One count, one morning, the whole block.
Thermal surveys work best in the hours before sunrise, on cold, still nights. One drone needs weeks of good mornings to cover a large block, and animals move between nights. ORCA flies the whole block at once, so every animal is counted once, at one moment.
From what your team does today, to what the fleet does for it.
The work is capped by headcount
- One contracted drone covers a few hundred hectares a morning.
- A large block takes weeks of suitable nights.
- Animals move between nights, so some are missed and some counted twice.
One operator, the whole fleet
- The whole block is flown inside one window.
- Every animal is counted once, at one moment.
- Counts compare cleanly season to season.
Why this job needs more than one drone.
A fleet earns its place when there’s too much ground for the time available, when coverage can’t have a gap, or when people are the limit.
A few hours a night
Thermal needs cold ground. A fleet fits a large block into the hours before sunrise.
A true snapshot
Flying every strip at once stops animals moving between strips mid-count.
Pilots are the limit
Night work needs certificated pilots. One operator runs the whole fleet.
Answers your team can act on.
Not hours of footage. Each output goes straight into the systems you already use.
Who it’s for
- Deer and goat programme managers
- Bovine TB programmes
- Monitoring and science teams
Night flying needs additional approval from the aviation regulator. Pre-dawn work can run with a certified operator while the safety case is built.
Count by cell
CSV + layerAnimals counted per cell, with the time each strip was flown.
Conditions
Per stripTemperature, wind and light for every strip.
Duplicates merged
ExplainedAnimals seen twice at strip edges, and how they were matched.
Gap register
Reasons loggedAreas under canopy or outside the window.
More in conservation
See ORCA on work like yours.
Tell us about the ground you look after and where it’s hardest to cover. We’ll walk you through how a fleet would run it, and what a first trial could look like.