An aerial survey of several river course sites across Northern Ireland was commissioned and purchased by the NIEA (Northern Ireland Environment Agency) Land Management Team in 2018. The purpose of this work was to identify potential habitat pressure points within freshwater Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), to assist with the development of Conservation Management Plans (CMPs) for each site. CMPs are available here. CMPs set out a Framework for Conservation Delivery of site-specific measures for specified Special Area of Conservation (SAC) in line with Article 6(1) of the Habitats Directive (HD), to move the features of these sites towards favourable condition.DetailsHigh Resolution Orthophotography was undertaken by Cyient Europe Limited, using a TopEye Mklll system, fitted inside a rotary wing aircraft. A medium format camera (Leica RCD30 60mp aerial survey camera) was used to capture nadir orthophoto tiles at 4cm resolution, provided in GeoTIFF format. The acquisition of imagery for each site was confined to the SAC boundary. Flight plans followed the course of the river with an aim to ensure that the middle of the water course remained centrally in each frame, and to guarantee a 60m coverage of river banks. Flight date for Owenkillew River SAC was 26/07/2018. SpecificationsNadir Aerial Imagery Camera Camera System - Leica RCD30 Operating Height - 350m Resolution (Ground Sample Distance) - 4cm Forward / side overlap - 60% / 30% Flight Line Separation - 245m Positioning and navigation - Integrated Applanix System POS AV 510 GPS/IMU LiDAR and Oblique imagery, also collected for each freshwater site, this can be requested by contacting NIEA.GIS@daera-ni.gov.ukFurther details, including those related to further image processing can also be requested by contacting NIEA.GIS@daera-ni.gov.uk
