Use of drone to locate Corncrake (Crex crex)

The ‘Langenholte’ reserve is located in the floodplains of the River Vecht (Zwolle). An important feature of the site is the presence of Corncrake. The key factor in determining suitable breeding habitat is the vegetation structure, which should provide enough cover for the birds from April onwards. Another important feature of the site is Snake’s Head Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris), a lowland hay meadows (H6510) species.

Management objective for the area is to create optimal conditions for the survival of Corncrake and for keeping the meadow in a good conservation status. However, combining these two objectives appears to be difficult in practice because of conflicting requirements. To gain more knowledge about the Corncrake’s habits and thus to take more targeted measures, we experimented with using a thermal camera mounted on a drone. The drone with the thermal camara was successfully used to locate the Corncrake. Based on this, it was possible to apply more targeted measures to protect the nests.

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