Manea & Denver
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K I T E A E R I A L P H O T O G R A P H Y Menea Pit Saturday 23th July 2016 Denver Sluice Sunday 24th July 2016 Last printed Sat 16 July 2016 12:23:42 2 C O N T E N T S Introduction 4 Location 5 The Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership 7 Background 8 Manea Pit 11 The Ouse at Denver 12 Aerial photography: privacy and permissions. 13 KAP risk assessment 14 KAP risk assessment by procedure: steps, risk ranking and amelioration 15 KAP Risk definitions 16 E Q U I P M E N T 17 E Q U I P M E N T C H E C K L I S T 21 O W L P K A P Workshop PARTICIPANT QUESTIONNAIRE 22 Manea & Denver RISK assessement.doc Last printed Sat 16 July 2016 12:23:42 3 - Introduction. The Saturday workshop (weather permitting) will take place at Manea a part of the Ouse Fest event on the SM Guy Memorial Field and Manea Pit. See p5. The Sunday workshop (weather permitting) will take place between Denver Complex and Downham Market, See p6 . The objective is to fly kites and capture low elevation aerial photography of the Manea Pit and the Ouse fest event, the River Great Ouse and its landscape context. Operation of kites will be subject to direction, by all means bring a kite if you like but you must be prepared to fly it as directed by the organiser. All equipment will be provided but you are welcome to bring a camera Please note the following: 1. The workshop MAY BE CANECELLED at short notice (up to 24 hours prior) if the weather is inappropriate for the activity, an alternate date will be offered if this is the case. 2. The organiser accepts no responsibility for attendees who participate entirely at their own risk, children MUST be accompanied. 3. The walk is along the bank top, which gets muddy. Gates will have to be negotiated with care. 4. Livestock may be present, dogs to be kept on a lead Manea & Denver RISK assessement.doc Last printed Sat 16 July 2016 12:23:42 4 - Location for Saturday 23 rd July S.M. Guy Memorial Playing Field, Park Road, Manea, Cambridgeshire PE15 0LL. Signposted on High St as: “Recreation Ground” at the Rose &Crown Public House Manea. From 11.00 am to 5pm This workshop is part of Ouse Fest 2016, Subject to wind direction kites will be flown from the playing field. Manea & Denver RISK assessement.doc Last printed Sat 16 July 2016 12:23:42 5 - Location for Sunday 23 rd July Denver Complex Visitor Car Park on Est side of Denver Sluice. From 11.00 till 4pm Subject to wind direction kites will be flown along the East bank of the Ouse on a walk to Downham Market. Manea & Denver RISK assessement.doc Last printed Sat 16 July 2016 12:23:42 6 - The Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership With a wide partnership of government, business and civil society organisations including 26 key organisations, the Ouse Washes Landscape Partnership (OWLP) aims to strengthen partnership working across all levels and all land use interests; develop strong community involvement and empowerment; and promote the OWLP area as a visitor destination in its own right. It is a Heritage Lottery Funded (HLF) initiative to encourage wider appreciation of the Ouse Washes as a landscape resource for community, leisure and conservation: it in engaged in a number of community projects ranging from local history recording to wildlife conservation measures. The Community KAP initiative is 2 fold: • To capture new views of the Washes and its setting as both record and to inspire interest • To share the experience of kite flying with a purpose over the Washes project area. The area targeted by the OWLP scheme is a large area of wetlands and washland set within productive agricultural land. The area focuses on the Old Bedford and New Bedford Rivers in the Cambridgeshire and Norfolk Fens and includes the RSPB nature reserves to its south, near St Ives and Fen Drayton. This unique landscape area includes or abuts a large number of vibrant small settlements and is close to the market towns and cities of Downham Market, Chatteris, March, Littleport, Ely, Cambridge and St. Ives. https://ousewasheslps.wordpress.com/about/ Manea & Denver RISK assessement.doc Last printed Sat 16 July 2016 12:23:42 7 - Background, why a kite? Background. Kite Aerial Photography, which has been practiced since the 1880s, is a method of capturing low level aerial photography. The use of the kite allows the photographer to take advantage of the zone between surface and 60m AGL without use of a powered platform (such as a micro-copter or model aircraft) and by this means photography is possible in Bft 2-4. recording detail of the landscape at unique resolution. KAP practice requires kites to be stable, flown on a single line, generally at the apex of the permitted ceiling. The constraints on kite use are overhead obstructions such as trees, power lines, and tall buildings. KAP requires a wind window of between 5 and 20mph and good light for consistent image quality. It is a paramount concern of the photographer to prevent loss of the camera and because of this KAP kite flying is a carefully tested procedure, whereby risk is minimised. Why a kite? The alternative of a balloon requires zero wind and a costly 'one time' helium discharge. Drone deployment requires adherence to strict regulation and legal oversight. The 50m proximity limit for persons makes group involvement difficult. The publication of images professionally captured by drone requires certification and licensing of both operator and drone. Kites, provided thy are flown in accordance with the height requirements of the CAA and are under 7kg, are free of restriction. Manea & Denver RISK assessement.doc Last printed Sat 16 July 2016 12:23:42 8 - KAP for OWLP : recording change in the landscape. The Ouse floodplain is subject to constant change. It is currently the site of the biggest habitat restoration project ever undertaken in Britain. The wetlands of the lower reaches of the Ouse have been in flux since the end of the ice age. The re-flooding and 're-wilding' of the Ouse valley floor at Earith, Holme Fen and Needingworth gravel pits, the retention of high winter water levels on the Washes along with new catchment at Dry Drayton Lakes, are a significant landscape impact. From the arrival of the first humans the land has been adapted by causeway, ditch and drain, the co-existence of man and wetland has been negotiated season by season, the rewards of pasture, fish and fowl came at the price of terrible flood until the time of Vermuyden when the straight channel and wind pump made way for the plough. Once it was the adventurers, then the enginemen and now it's the conservationists who stamp their will on the landscape, man's impact on the landscape of the Fen wetlands is perhaps only equalled by the great industrial urbanisation of the 19th and 20th centuries. Aerial photography is well suited to documenting both the traces of the past the arrival of new land uses. What we hope to achieve Scheduling KAP is almost impossible in the UK, the vagaries of wind and light cannot be accounted for. The chances of ideal conditions for photography and kite flying are often slim but the object of the workshop is for participants to get an experience of load lifting with a kite and, hopefully, some photographic gain. The simplicity of the method and the benefit of the high level viewpoint lends to a unique connection with sense of place. Manea & Denver RISK assessement.doc Last printed Sat 16 July 2016 12:23:42 9 - It is hoped the personal experience of the landscape as both a kite flying arena and a photographic subject will lead to a new appreciation of it. Possible outcomes: • Participant KAP skill/understanding developed. • Value of a landscape photomap understood. • Increased awareness of site value. • Local people involved in increasing access to heritage. • Digital archive and mapping acquisition skills imparted. • Basic mapping and recording skills imparted. • Awareness of landscape significance improved. Mosaic and photomap If conditions allow a selection of the captured images may make a mosaic forming a high resolution photomap. There is a possibility of capturing an aerial panorama and the camera set up will allow for this if lighting conditions permit. Follow up and feedback The imagery, if successful, will be posted on the OWLP web site in gallery form. Participants will be asked to complete the attached questionnaire to record the effectiveness of the workshop. Understanding the impact of HLF funded outreach initiatives is important to future planning and grant aid, your comment and feedback is needed and if possible the request for information on ethic and socio-economic status (on the last page) should be filled in but there is no obligation to do so. Manea & Denver RISK assessement.doc Last printed Sat 16 July 2016 12:23:42 10 - Manea Pit At Manea Pit low level aerial photography can capture vegetation change. The edge of the pit is listed as a priority habitat in the Natural England Lowland Fens Priority Habitat Inventory for England The old gravel pit has been transformed into a wildlife-rich and active local conservation project area. Designated as a County Wildlife Site, funded by Heritage Lottery Fund it involves volunteers from local communities who are involved in traditional and wildlife management work like planting meadows and orchards around the well-vegetated pit.