Today hasn't been a good day.
I started out by travelling to Blackrock Cove which is close to Dundalk. I had intended using my drone to get photos of the mudflats there. The bad day started when I had a couple of drivers with gay cars poking their noses up my arse but that's kind of par for the course. Finding somewhere to park that wasn't going to get me killed was a little more difficult. Got the drone up and took one photo. I was quite excited by the view I was getting and tried to take more photos when my drone informed me there was a problem with the card and subsequent photos would be saved to cache.
Landed the drone and made it back to the car where I searched my phone for the cached photos only to find none! Grrr.
Then my stomach started rumbling so I cancelled my other plan which was to take some long exposures on Mornington beach, and instead, I went home. Sorted out the rumbling - you don't want to know and I checked the card and found the one photo from this morning.
And the card seems to be all right but I'm of the opinion that if a card or a drive or disk or whatever gives you a problem, it's probably time to bin it.
Anyways .......... While I was there in Blackrock, I saw a 'construction' on the horizon and since I have been in 'sunrise-behind-stuff-photo' mode for the last few months, I thought this might be a good one to check out.
There's a person I know lives close to where I was this morning. I hesitate to call him a friend - that would be presumptuous of me I think - but he has been more than helpful in the past so I asked if I could park on his property next time I'm there and mentioned the drone.
Wow! I suddenly found out that I had broken the law by flying where I did. Another person had been prosecuted for a variety of reasons and the phrase "threw the book at him" was used.
I mentioned that I had flown the drone straight up to 120 metres and intentionally had not flown at a low level because of birds but that didn't matter. The whole bay is a sensitive area. It is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), a National Heritage Area (NHA) and designated as a Special Protected Area (SPA). I'm guessing now, but I think I might be right, that asking to be allowed to fly anywhere near this place at any time of the day or year would get a large "NO!" response from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). But I might try anyway.
Something else I was told ..... I said that I thought it was a little unfair to assume I would know about this and that a sign or ten in the area would be proactive otherwise it felt like entrapment. I am responsible for educating my self about the Wildlife Act 1976 and ECU Birds and Natural Habitats Regulations 2011. I cannot claim ignorance! But I must thank my man in Blackrock for not only warning me but also for providing me with so much information.
So, I had a quick look at the website and it reminded me of a boss I used to have. He would see an approaching problem/date/situation/deadline and be aware that the person responsible was not on top of it. So he would write memos. The funny thing was that when the shit hit the fan and we would look to this guy with the question "why didn't you say anything?" written on our foreheads, he would respond "I copied them on the memo". This website is a civil servant's wet dream. You transgress, they probably have it covered. You want to find out if you might transgress and you might spend the rest of you life trying to find it.
Also, too as well ...... Since the NPWS are a bit short on the ground, the Gardai have sections who are up to speed on the regulations and will get you!
Having absorbed a lot of this, I then started to think about where I had used the drone recently. Since the lockdown I've used it from Mornington beach along the strand to as far away as Skerries. I wasn't aware of any many bird flocks but ignorance doesn't count so now I have to go through all the regulations. I see they have an interactive map which is helpful. It took a while to find it. If it's of use to you here is a link:
https://dahg.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8f7060450de3485fa1c1085536d477ba
So Covid, lockdowns, no travel, cancelled photo trips, loss of money (for cancelled trips), no studio shoots and a few other negatives and I'm beginning to think the Gods or Fate is sending me hints.
Now, sssshhh. I have to study or maybe think about selling all my camera gear.
