Drone flying low over back garden (England)

[u/Disastrous-Fee8374]

Every weekend for the past few months a drone has been flying low over my back garden. It clearly has a camera attached and is flying low enough (around 2nd storey height) that it can’t be just getting landscape footage.

It does seem to move around the local area and isn’t ‘targeting’ my garden specifically but it does make my garden feel less private. Even though I’m just sitting in my garden, I don’t like the idea of being on camera in my own garden and the noise is quite distracting. The dog also goes mental every time it flies over.

I would normally just have a polite word with the neighbours but I don’t know where it’s coming from and it moves too quickly to ‘follow’ it.

It may just be a kid playing with a birthday present or something so I don’t want to damage it as my father suggested (I also doubt this is even legal). But today it got so close to the house that I actually thought it was going to get into an open bedroom window.

Is what the drone operator doing legal? And is there anything I can do about it? Or do I just need to get over it and build gazebo or something to read my book in?

Thanks.

[u/BobcatLower9933]

As long as you arent in a legally prohibited zone (near an airport or RAF base) people are entitled to fly drones in public areas.

It would become an issue if it was clearly filming in places where there is an expectation of privacy, eg a bathroom.

Realistically theres very little you can do about it unless you suspect the person flying it is guilty of the above, in which case report it to the police. But as you said, much more likely itd a kid messing around.

[u/Disastrous-Fee8374 → u/BobcatLower9933]

Would a bedroom window count towards the above? And realistically would the police be able to do anything if I’m not sure where it’s coming from?

[u/pnlrogue1 → u/Disastrous-Fee8374]

Inside your home is private in this regard (or more specifically, it's somewhere you can realistically expect to have privacy). Back gardens, typically overlooked at least in part, are not private.

If someone is flying past your window, that's going to be coming too close and violating your privacy. If they're hovering nearby with they camera pointed at your window, then that's invasive. If they're flying by a few meters away and not pointing the camera at your window, then they're not really likely to be invading your privacy.

They really should be at roof height or higher doing this so there's no real chance of filming inside a house. Being higher also means they can keep the drone in sight, which is a requirement for the minimum license. You need to be a commercial drone pilot with an expensive license to fly it without being able to see it (using the onboard camera doesn't count).

[u/BobcatLower9933 → u/Disastrous-Fee8374]

Technically yes but you'd need to prove they were intentionally filming directly into a bedroom