Donal Hickey: Drones could be useful when studying birds but they must be used carefully

The scientific community is calling for more attention to the use of millions of drones that are sold to lay people, which cause conflict with wildlife.

A new Government plan for Skellig Michael, an important seabird breeding colony, commits to banning drones there.

A notable benefit of drones is that they allow easy access to wildlife in remote places that are, in the usual way, difficult to get at it. Drones then are being used increasingly around the world in nature research.

The downside is that the strange noise of such gadgets and their highly visible intrusion into areas normally occupied only by wild birds and other animals causes problems. These creatures are sometimes disturbed and confused, with some birds of prey attacking the drones.

A new 10-year Government plan for one of our internationally-renowned havens of wild seabirds, Skellig Michael, commits to banning drones and helicopter flights there.

The Unesco World Heritage Site, off the southwest coast, along with the neighbouring Little Skellig, is an important seabird breeding colony, providing a safe refuge where they can nest and rear their young.

As it majestically sits 12km from the coast, the Atlantic provides rich feeding grounds for Skellig birds while making access difficult for people and keeping the islands free from predators.

Easy to see then how drones could be useful in gathering data about the thousands of gannets, puffins, kittiwakes and other birds which make up the Skellig population. In such a breeding location, the fear is that nesting birds may be frightened into abandoning their nests containing vulnerable eggs, or chicks.

Only a tiny proportion of the millions of drones being sold globally are flown for scientific reasons and researchers are generally careful in how they use them. Research published by Cambridge University Press shows the most common bird reaction is escape, 57%, and videos showed attacks on drones.

While no scientific articles reported collisions between wild animals and drones, this was recorded in 6% of videos. And this, according to researchers, could be due to laypeople flying drones to generate an encounter with an animal.

Researchers must follow strict codes of conduct when using drones. The scientific community, therefore, is calling for more attention to the use of millions of drones that are sold to laypeople which cause conflict with wildlife.

Back to the Skelligs. Local writer Michael Kirby, from nearby Ballinskelligs, Co. Kerry, knew the area intimately from his work as a farmer and fisherman.

“Out here all things lived. Ronan the seal played and revelled in the churning surf. An ugly, hook-beaked cormorant pointed its tail feathers heavenwards disappearing beneath the green waters,’’ he wrote.

“Manx shearwaters skimmed the surface. Together with the swallow-like flight of the grey fulmar, the great solan goose, mighty bird of the Atlantic, flew towards Little Skelligs, bearing a long streamer of bladderwrack in its great beak, the building material of a new nest in expectation of this year’s offering.’’