Drone, Photography and Video Policy

This page explains how we take and use photographs, video and drone footage for hightae.co.uk.

It covers work around Hightae, Heck, Greenhill and Smallholm (the Royal Four Towns) and the countryside nearby.

This is how we work in practice. It is not legal advice. Scots law, UK aviation law, and data-protection rules apply. We will keep the page under review.

Who we are

Leonico Ltd runs the website and is a company registered in Scotland (company number SC255241). The registered office is Suite 4.6, Turnberry House, 175 West George Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G2 2LB.

Leonico Ltd owns the website. Photographs and video taken for the site are used by Leonico under the arrangements set out in the Copyright section below.

Leonico Ltd is the data controller for any personal information in those images. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under reference ZB331793.

If you want to get in touch about anything on this page, use the form at the bottom of this page. That form is marked so we know the message is about a photograph, video or drone flight. We read every message.

What this policy covers

It covers: drone flights and aerial photographs and video; street-level photographs and video taken in public places; photographs and video taken on private land with the owner’s permission; how we treat children; how we keep an archive of village life; how to ask us to blur or take something down.

This page is about photographs and videos we take for the site. It is not a village by-law, and it does not cover other people’s drones or cameras.

If we share the same photograph or video on a social account we run for the site, these rules still apply.

It sits alongside our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Terms of Service and Disclaimer. Those pages still apply.

The Privacy Policy and the forms we use when you send a picture cover user-submitted gallery photographs. This page is about photographs and videos we take ourselves.

How we fly

We fly a DJI Mini 4 Pro. It weighs 249g and carries a camera.

The pilot holds a CAA Flyer ID. The operator holds a CAA Operator ID. The Operator ID is labelled on the aircraft.

We fly in the Open Category under the Civil Aviation Authority’s Drone and Model Aircraft Code. At this weight, the relevant sub-category is Over People (A1). That means we may fly over uninvolved people, but we do not fly over a crowd. A crowd, in the CAA sense, is a group packed tightly enough that people cannot move away quickly. It is not a fixed number of people. We stay within visual line of sight and no higher than 120 metres above the ground.

We follow the current CAA rules. The official source is https://www.caa.co.uk/drones/

Before every take-off, we check DJI GEO Zones and Geo-Awareness, and we check for restricted airspace. Temporary restrictions can appear anywhere, even in a quiet part of Dumfries and Galloway.

As at the date of this policy, there is no known Flight Restriction Zone or similar restriction over Hightae or the other three villages. That can change. We do not treat the area as permanently clear.

We only take off and land from a place we are entitled to use.

We carry drone insurance when we fly.

We do not fly in a way that endangers people, animals or property. We do not hover at window height. We do not linger over a private garden.

Flying over homes and gardens

A drone at a sensible height will sometimes pass over roofs and gardens. That is normal for a wide village or countryside shot.

Under section 76 of the Civil Aviation Act 1982, no claim in trespass or nuisance arises only because an aircraft flies over property at a height that is reasonable in the circumstances, provided the flight follows the Air Navigation Order rules. We fly within the CAA height limit, and we keep passes brief.

What we film from the air

Most of our aerial work is wide scenic video and stills of the villages and the surrounding countryside, generally from about 50 metres to 120 metres.

At that height it is usually very hard to recognise a person. Roofs, gardens, fields and streets will still appear in the frame.

We take extra care with gardens that cannot easily be seen from a public road. We do not use footage that shows an identifiable person in that kind of private space, especially a child, someone sunbathing, someone in a hot tub, or someone in a bikini or similar.

If we notice that during editing, we blur the area or we do not use the clip.

We do not use drone footage to look into homes, to watch people, or to identify number plates.

Street-level photographs and video

In public places (roads, pavements, the war memorial, village greens, public paths and similar), we photograph and film the village as it is.

If we want to photograph or film inside a private space (a garden, a farmyard, the Hall interior, school grounds, a private drive), we do it with the owner’s permission.

Scotland has no general right to stop someone photographing a scene from a public place. Taking a photograph or video in a public place is not, by itself, a criminal offence. Other offences can still apply if the filming is threatening, abusive, targeted harassment, voyeurism or otherwise criminal. We do not do that.

That does not mean we ignore people. If you are out and about when we are working, you can still ask us about a photograph. We will consider every reasonable request. We take that more seriously if you are on your own in the shot, not part of a group, an event, or a celebration in public at the time.

We will not agree to remove every incidental appearance in a street scene. A village website must be able to show the village. We will look at the request in good faith and explain what we can do.

We do not take sneaky, targeted or repeated photographs of one person. Persistent or targeted filming can be harassment. We do not do it.

Children

For this policy, a child is someone under 16. That is the age of legal capacity in Scotland. We use it as a clear, cautious line for photographs and video.

We avoid photographing or filming identifiable children unless we have verbal or written permission from the child’s parent, guardian, or a responsible adult.

If no such adult is available, we do not photograph the child.

If, during editing, a child appears in a group photograph and we cannot get permission from an adult responsible for that child, we blur the child’s face.

We treat Hightae Primary School grounds and times when children are arriving, leaving or in the playground with particular care. We do not photograph identifiable children on school grounds without the right permission.

The same care applies at the Hall when children are there (play group, school PE, family events and similar).

Age is not always obvious from a photograph. Someone can look older than they are. If we thought a person was 16 or over and they were not, that is understandable. Tell us. If you, a parent, a guardian or a responsible adult, let us know that someone in a photograph or video is under 16, we will make every reasonable effort to blur them quickly.

If we get this wrong and you see your child in a photograph or video on the site, ask us to blur them. We will make every reasonable effort to do that quickly.

How to ask us to blur or take something down

Use the form at the bottom of this page and tell us: where you saw the image or video (the page or a short description); roughly when it was taken, if you know; what you would like us to do (blur a face, blur an area, or take the item down).

Please do not send copies of other people’s private photographs.

We will review your request as soon as we can. Requests about children come first.

Village archive

Published photographs and videos stay on the site as long as they are useful. We also keep a backup of the unedited footage. That archive is part of the village record. We want people in years to come to be able to see what Hightae and the Royal Four Towns looked like, and what village life was like, when the pictures were taken.

If we take something down after a request, the published page will change. We may still hold the original in the archive.

Data protection

An image is personal data if a person can be identified from it, on its own or with other information. That includes some drone footage, even when the person was not the point of the shot.

We follow UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

For wide public scenes, where people appear only in passing, we rely on legitimate interests: running a community website that shows Hightae and the Royal Four Towns as they are and keeping a record of village life. We balance that against privacy.

For identifiable children, we rely on permission from a parent, guardian, or responsible adult; we blur the child; or we do not publish the image.

We do not sell photographs or videos of people.

You can ask what personal data we hold, ask us to correct it, or object to how we use it. Our Privacy Policy explains those rights. The Information Commissioner’s Office also publishes guidance on photographs, videos and drones.

Copyright

Most of the photographs and videos on this site are the artistic work of Clarke Duncan, a private individual. He is also a director of Leonico Ltd. He licenses that work to Leonico Ltd to use on this website and on the social accounts we run for the site, at no cost.

Leonico Ltd owns the website. Where Clarke Duncan’s licence covers a photograph or video, he keeps the copyright, and Leonico has permission to use it as set out above. Other site content belongs to Leonico Ltd or to the person who sent it to us, unless we say otherwise.

You may not copy photographs or videos from this site for commercial use without permission. Sharing a link to the page is fine.

If you send us an old photograph for the gallery, you keep your rights in that picture. We only use it as you agreed when you sent it.

Related policies: Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Terms of Service, Disclaimer.

Changes: We may update this page when the law, CAA rules or our practices change. The date at the bottom shows when we last revised it.

Ask us about a photograph, video or drone flight

This form is marked so we know the message is about a photograph, video or drone flight. Tell us where you saw it, roughly when it was taken if you know, and what you would like us to do.

Last updated: September 2026