United KingdomPublic sector2024 – ongoingNatural England
AI instance segmentation of drone imagery for seal monitoring
Natural England's AI drone survey detected over 8,500 seals on the Norfolk coast
Problem
Ground surveys could miss seals in areas that were difficult to see or reach. Natural England needed repeatable population counts with limited disturbance.
Approach
Natural England ran a two-year pilot combining drone imagery with instance segmentation. A December 2024 survey distinguished individual seals and separated adults from whitecoat pups. Ground volunteers continued to support monitoring.
Results
Takeaway
Natural England said the higher count was likely due to aerial visibility. The difference did not establish AI accuracy against an independently verified total.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Public sector
- Business function
- Production and quality
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Computer vision
- Adoption
- Built in-house
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
Natural England reported results along an 8 kilometre shoreline. Volunteers counted more than 6,200 seals from the ground, compared with over 8,500 detected from drone imagery.
Full details are in the original sources.