In collaboration with Highlands Rewilding we have supported post-graduate student research into the utility of drone imagery in mapping pollinator resources and connectivity in the Scottish Highlands. Rewilding has become a widespread activity in the Scottish Highlands, and when properly managed offers many benefits including carbon sequestration, biodiversity enhancement, flood mitigation and improved slope stability. Shrubs such as montane arctic willow (Salix lapponum) form an important part of the natural, native landscape in Scotland, however, due to centuries of muirburn and over- grazing, remaining populations have become isolated and fragmented. One way to aid the recovery of such shrub populations is to ensure the provision of nectar-rich floral resources surrounding the populations to attract pollinators, especially those species that flower at a similar time to the shrubs in question. Connectivity of floral resources for pollinators between these isolated populations is also very important in ensuring that sufficient genetic diversity is maintained. During May 2023 we supported an MSc research project to explore the utility of high resolution UAV imaging in mapping and assessing the abundance of various species of flowering plants around populations of willow in Glen Caick in the Scottish Highlands. We deployed our Matrice 300 RTK aircraft with ultra-high resolution P1 photogrammetry camera and DJI Mavic 3M drone with in-built multispectral sensor in what was a challenging operation in very steep and complex terrain. The terrain following and obstacle avoidance systems on both aircraft were well tested but we successfully acquired a range of very high resolution datasets. Our student researcher then used pixel- and object-based supervised classifications to successfully map distributions of the species of interest, This article was published on 2024-06-25
