GovWire

How much will be paid

43 per hectare (ha)

Where to use this option

Available for Countryside Stewardship Mid-Tier and Higher Tier

Whole parcel

Only on land above the moorland line within severely disadvantaged areas (SDA), on parcels less than 25ha in area. Parcels must be enclosed.

When this option is targeted at ground nesting birds, parcels must have scrub cover of less than 1% of the area.

Features that can be included in this option

The following features can be included if theyre part of the land, even if they are ineligible for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).

• Bracken
• Ditches
• Dykes
• Scrub including gorse bushes and briar
• Scree, rock, outcrops or boulders
• Streams less than 4m wide and that take up less than 1 ha of the parcel

Related Mid-Tier options

The following options and supplements can be located on the same area as this option.

• HS4 Scrub control on historic and archaeological features
• OT6 Organic land management - enclosed rough grazing

How this option will benefit the environment

It maintains and enhances areas of enclosed rough grazing land within an upland farming system. This land contains extensive areas of moorland vegetation but it does not meet moorland priority habitat status over the majority of the parcel.

This habitat will benefit moorland birds such as short-eared owl and ring ouzel and provide improved breeding and feeding habitat for birds such as golden plover and redshank.

Aims

During the spring and summer there will be a mosaic of upland rough grazing habitats with diverse sward heights and low/contained levels of bracken, gorse and scrub.

By autumn, the sward will have a varied sward height with tussocks of grass, and some grasses and wildflowers will be allowed to go to seed.

Management will ensure that cover of soft and hard rush is no more than 20%.

Any archaeological or historic features will be protected under a grass cover, with no increase in scrub or bracken cover, no bare ground present, and no damage incurred as a result of machinery use.

Prohibited activities

To achieve the aims and deliver the environmental benefits across the whole parcel, do not carry out any of the following activities:

• Operate machinery or carry out other activities during the bird breeding season, that may disturb breeding birds or damage nests
• Use pesticides, except for herbicides to spot-treat or weed-wipe for the control of injurious weeds, invasive non-natives, nettles and bracken
• Apply any lime, fertilisers or manures
• Supplementary feed except for mineral blocks
• Cut rushes between 15 March and 31 July
• Cut more than half of the scrub in any year, except on historic and archaeological features
• Use herbicides on ferns other than bracken
• Plough, cultivate or re-seed
• Carry out any drainage works, including modifying existing drainage, unless the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) has given written permission before work takes place

On your annual claim you will be asked to declare that you have not carried out any prohibited activities.

Recommended management

To assist you in achieving the aims and deliver the environmental benefits for this option, we recommend that you use best practice.

We recommend that you:

• contain bracken and common gorse so that they do not spread to new areas of land
• control common gorse by cutting or burning in blocks
• maintain dwarf shrub coverage
• maintain scrub in discrete small patches, lines and occasional individual bushes scattered across the site
• where scrub cover is less than 5%, keep the full extent of well-established scrub
• where scrub cover is more than 5%, keep scrub cover between 5% and 10% of the parcel area
• maintain a sward with a range of heights during the growing season so that at least 20% is less than 7 centimetres (cm) high and 20% is more than 7cm high. No height variation needs to be maintained when the field is closed up for a cut of hay or silage
• control dense rush by grazing or cutting every year so that stands of soft or hard rush do not cover more than 20% of the parcel area and sward heights are less than 20cm high by 30 September
• check for breeding birds before operating machinery or carrying out other activities which may disturb breeding birds or damage their nests. The breeding season tends to run from mid-March until late July, but it can start earlier and finish later, depending on the species and the weather

Keeping records

Where there is uncertainty about whether the aims of the options have been delivered, we will take into account any records or evidence you may have kept demonstrating delivery of the aims of the option. This will include any steps youve taken to follow the recommended management set out above. Its your responsibility to keep such records if you want to rely on these to support your claim.

• Receipted invoices, consents or permissions connected with the work
• Records of all management activity on the option area for each parcel
• Timings of herbicide or pesticide applications along with the product used and application rate
• Burning and cutting dates and locations
• A monthly record of stock numbers grazing each parcel in this option
• Any written agreements from Natural England for drainage works

You may be asked to take and submit the following photographic records.

• A photographic record of the extent of dwarf shrub, bracken and gorse on the site

Additional guidance and advice

The following advice is helpful, but they are not requirements for this item.

Further information

Read more information about Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier and Higher Tier to find out more about the scheme and how to apply.