Drone Photos - Above UK's beaches with a £100 drone

[FGR2]

Last year I took the plunge and with my "15 year service" at work voucher bought a cheap camera drone.

Being aware of the negative publicity and some irresponsible owners making drone flying a public nuisance, I made a point of following all the guidance in the drone code regulations, and made sure that wherever I could, I would fly over the foreshores on breaches and always away from other people (usually early morning or in the evening). I also made sure I didn't overfly any National Trust or English Heritage sites and not near any wildlife reserves or SSSIs/SPAs.

The Drone is a Ryze Tello Drone, (about £100) and is flown from your smart phone. Both Video and Stills are possible, stability is surprisingly good. The drone weighs less than 90g, but can cope quite well in a medium breeze, and can go up to an altitude of 30M.

Picture quality is not amazing, (a bit early 2000's camera phone), but you can't really complain for the price. I hope you like these and can appreciate the fantastic scenery we have here in the UK.

I'll start off with Frinton-on-Sea, in Essex, one of the few stretches of the Essex coast that isn't part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest.

A1 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

A2 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

Then for the next trip down to the Kent Coast and the Beach at Walmer, and Walmer Castle, looking great in the morning sun.

A3 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

Towards the cliffs at Dover:

A4 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

And north Towards Deal.

A5 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

Because there were a few people around and there was a bit of a breeze, I kept it quite low for this one from the beach at Deal, and Deal Castle.

A6 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

Then on to Cornwall, late summer, and the beautiful beach at Daymer Bay in the evening.

A7 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

A8 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

And towards St Enodoc Church, the final resting place of Sir John Betjeman.

A9 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

Hayle Estuary.

A10 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

A11 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

A12 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

Looking towards Godrevy Lighthouse.

A13 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

The final one for the moment is from Mersea Island and the colourful beach huts. Flying was curtailed after the wind picked up and I had to chase the drone down the beach

A14 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

[D90Man]

Nice - you've certainly put the miles in! Couple of nice golf courses in the background - Frinton and St Enodoc.

Next time you're up this way, take a look at Walton-on-the Naze, just south of the pier - some pretty colourful beach huts there too.

Leon

[FGR2]

Thanks Leon, I will bear that in mind.

I took a trip down to the Isle of Sheppey today to see what I could capture. Not the most picturesque of seaside places, Leysdown, the town having a rather faded seaside image, lined with brightly lit empty arcades. The roads further out of town towards Warden Point turn into little more than rough tracks filled in with rubble and bricks. There are a few interesting relics though down on the shoreline.

After sliding on my backside in mud, I took the beach route to this location, rather than via the cliffs.

I did want to try and get around to the other structures around the point, however slippery muddy rocks (and muddy trainers) made me abandon that plan, fearing I would end up on my bum again.

Towards Leysdown.

A15 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

Just over 20metres above the beach, a wartime relic is being reclaimed by the sea.

A16 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

This is just a couple of metres up, and the remains are the bottom half of a Sound Mirror. These were used before the advent of radar and were once on the cliff tops. Coastal erosion has brought this one down onto the beach over the last 40 years and is slowly being reclaimed by the sea.

A17 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

A18 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

May try again later in the year (with a pair of wellies this time), to see if I can capture the other structures further along the coast.

[FarnboroJohn]

Fascinating photos and I love the freedom of the new angles. I was interested to see the outer end of the Hayle Estuary - I know Copperhouse Creek and the area up towards the Old Quay House but have never been to the seaward end!

In Kent you might find Dungeness an interesting place though perhaps SSSI and the nuclear power station are problems? There are more sound mirrors in the area - around the pits near Greatstone on Sea - as well as Martello towers all along the coast.

Look forward to more of this.

[CJS]

These are great, thanks for sharing.

If you are ever in the West country - Clevedon has some lovely spots - the pier and poet's walk would offer some nice shots I am sure.

Also looking forward to more!
Chris

[FGR2]

Thanks for the comments, Dungeness as well as an SSSI is also under the Lydd airspace zone, but around St Mary’s Bay may be ok. Trying to find locations is difficult, as most of the coast is part of an SSSI or SPI.

I have a few ideas of places to go this year though.

[Blackbird]

I'm impressed with your results from a £100 drone. Some really interesting shots from a different vantage point.

Many thanks for posting.

Andy

[BobL]

Always interesting views from drone photos and the Ryze Tello Drone is currently priced at £79 on Amazon.

From looking at reviews online it seems to be a pretty simple and easy to operate for the price...

[FGR2]

I think it is £79 in Argos as well.

Dead easy to use, just fly it from an app on your phone.

There are two ‘discs’. The left one is up or down and rotate left or right.

The right one is forward or reverse, and left or right.

It also has a facility (specially for video), of automatically rotating 360 deg, or flying in a circle around a point. There are two modes for flight response, slow and fast.

It does recognise windier conditions and will try and compensate.

It also has stunt features like side flips, forward or back flips, corner over corner flips etc.

Amazing amount of features packed into something so small (and cheap).

[Stagger2]

This is a great series of photo's from a different aspect. Liking your shot A9 of Daymer Bay & St. Enodoc Church, Trebetherick in the parish of St Minver. One of a few locations in this set that I have visited.

[BobL]

@FGR2

For £79 I am tempted to give it a go!

Was looking at the DJI Mavic Mini after checking out the Tello, which is also a pretty impressive bit of kit, but almost 3 times the cost....

[FGR2]

The Tello is a bit toy like, but for the price you can get reasonable results with a bit of sharpening and tweaking with levels in Photoshop.

I have in mind a few places I’d like to go, just have to wait for some better weather now.

[FGR2]

Back out and about with the drone again. These are of the beach at West Mersea, Essex at sunset.

A19 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

A20 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

A21 by Lee Linley, on Flickr

[psquiddy]

Nice shots - but is the drone something that would be an annoyance to other people in the area? Is it noisy or particularly noticeable?

[BobL]

The Tello is about the size of your palm and probably no more annoying than a couple of angry wasps...

[FGR2]

As BobL says, it is not noisy at all. You can just about hear it at 30 metres up but as you will be flying 50 metres from anyone, it would hardly be noticeable against background noise for them anyway.

[FGR2]

In mid August I decided to give the drone another outing, this time across the border into Suffolk. This is an area which was in the front line of Britains defences, from the Martello towers to the Bloodhound missile site on the cliff tops during the cold war. The area is very peaceful now, even at 9am on a scorching August day. By midday a few more people had found their way down to the small beach at the mouth of the River Deben. The main enemy now is coastal erosion, I couldn't get much further along the beach as the walkway was closed off due to collapsing cliffs, a lot of work is now needed to protect the coastline and Manor House from the encroaching sea.

w by Lee Linley, on Flickr

The large cranes at Felixstowe are hidden by a light morning mist.

X by Lee Linley, on Flickr

Y by Lee Linley, on Flickr

And one from a little later in the day around 8m up, quite like the colour of the rusting sea defences on this one. The closed coastal path is on the left along the top of the defences.

z by Lee Linley, on Flickr

[redbearing]

What a brilliant purchase, deal!!! lovely set!