AI & Conservation

SCEACH: PROTECTING HEDGEROWS WITH AI

Sceach is an automatic habitat endangerment detection system that uses instance segmentation on satellite imagery to identify illegal hedge cutting, helping protect biodiversity and save thousands of birds each year.

Active Development🌿 ConservationSatellite Technology

The Problem

Ireland possesses over 689,000km of hedgerows, serving as critical habitats for wildlife. However, they are increasingly under threat from illegal cutting and development, directly impacting bird populations.

🌳
689,000km
of hedgerows in Ireland
🐦
60%
of birds are of concern
📊
<10%
of infringements reported
⏱️
2-3 days
manual investigation

The Solution: Sceach

We revolutionize hedgerow protection by combining satellite imagery with AI. Rangers can scan any area on-demand and receive instant before/after comparisons, turning a 2-3 day investigation into a 2-3 minute process.

  • 🛰️Real-time satellite imagery: Continuous monitoring of Ireland's hedgerow network.
  • 🎯Instance segmentation: AI models identify and classify individual hedgerow segments.
  • 📊Automated reporting: Instant alerts and detailed reports when violations are detected.
  • 👥Ranger Dashboard: Intuitive interface to monitor and manage cases.

See it in Action

Fig. 1 — On-Demand scanning instantly detects hedge cutting violations.

Continuous Monitoring

Fig. 2 — The AI system works 24/7, automatically scanning and detecting violations.

Workflow Comparison

Traditional vs AI-Powered

Before Detection

  • • Public Reports
  • • Field Investigation
  • • Manual Evidence

Time: 2-3 days

With Sceach

  • • Satellite Scan
  • • AI Analysis
  • • Instant Report

Time: 2-3 minutes

Project Ledger

Technical Infrastructure

  • AI & Vision: Custom-trained deep learning models for instance segmentation
  • Change Detection: Before/after comparison algorithms for violation identification
  • Satellite Data: Integration of multi-source high-res satellite imagery
  • Cloud Processing: Scalable pipeline running on Oracle Cloud

Team & Partners

  • Built by Tomás, Aditya, and Rosheen at Patch in just 6 weeks
  • Approved and endorsed by the National Parks and Wildlife Services Ireland (NPWS)
  • Deployed via Next.js and Railway

Impact & Benefits

  • Speed: Reduced investigation time from days to minutes
  • Accuracy: Scalable detection mechanism minimizes false positives
  • Conservation: Actively protects thousands of birds and preserves Ireland's unique biodiversity