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Stewardship

 

 

The Scheme has three elements:

 

1.  ENTRY LEVEL STEWARDSHIP (ELS) 

Whole Farm Scheme open to all (5 year tenure)

• The aims for ELS if taken up over large areas will help to improve water quality and reduce soil erosion
• Improve conditions for farmland wildlife, including birds, mammals, butterflies and bees
• Maintain and enhance landscape character, such as field boundaries
• Protect the historic environment

2.  ORGANIC ENTRY LEVEL STEWARDSHIP (OELS)

Whole Farm Scheme open to all organic farmers who manage all or part of their land organically  (5 year tenure)

 

3.  HIGHER LEVEL STEWARDSHIP (HLS)

Combine with the above but will be discretionary and will concentrate on complex management requirements  (10 year tenure)

 

ENTRY LEVEL STEWARDSHIP

• Options for buffer strips and field margins
• Options for arable land
• Options to encourage a range of crop types
• Options to protect soils 

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BUFFER STRIPS

Buffer Strip Options in ELS must not overlap with:

1. The Single Payment scheme cross compliance requirement not to cultivate land within 2m of the centre of a hedgerow or watercourse (and within 1m of the top of the bank of a watercourse)
2. Any other buffer strips or uncultivated strips required under other ELS options, such as ELS options for field boundaries, trees and woodland
3. Public rights of way (e.g. footpaths or bridleways) along field edges

 

EE1/EE2 2m & 4m Buffer Strips on cultivated land

Establish or maintain a grassy strip during the first 12 months of your agreement. The sward will need regular defoliation in the first 12 months to assist establishment and control weed species. Whilst it is possible to allow natural regeneration we feel this is not desirable as this will lead to the invasion of undesirable species and promote foliar diseases

 

Mixture Options

BGM 1	With Cocksfoot
BGM 2	No Cocksfoot
BGM 3	With Cocksfoot and Clover

• Sowing Rates 20 kg/hectare
• EE1 300 points per hectare
• EE2 400 points per hectare
  

EE3 6m Buffer Strips

Management as for the above, plus after 12 months cut the 3m next to the crop edge annually after mid July. Only cut the other 3m to control woody growth, and no more than one year in five  (where next to woodland one year in ten). You may sow all or part of the margin with a mixture of fine leaved grasses and wild flowers.

 

Mixture Options
6GM

BGM 1	With Cocksfoot
BGM 2	No Cocksfoot
BGM 3	With Cocksfoot and Clover

• Sowing Rates 20 kg/ hectare
• All the above mixtures plus Wild Flowers – WF1
• EE3  400 points per hectare

 

EE8 Buffering In-field Ponds in Arable Land  
(Max patch size 0.5 hectare)

To maintain their value to wildlife, the water quality of ponds needs to be protected. The creation  of unfertilised grass buffers around ponds will help prevent nutrient leaching and run-off whilst providing additional habitat for pond wildlife. Buffering must extend at least 10m from the edge of and around each pond. Management similar to above in first 12 months.

Mixture options as for EE3

• EE8  400 points per hectare

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OPTIONS FOR ARABLE LAND

EF1 Field Corner Management        
(Max 1 hectare in 20 hectares of arable land)

The provision for a grassy area has an enhanced benefit and provides interest for a wide variety of wildlife. These areas can accommodate those awkward areas of fields which are very difficult to manage in conventional farming. These areas will provide a habitat for invertebrates, birds, reptiles and amphibians. This option must not be located on archaeological sites.

 

Mixture Options

• BGM 1  BGM 2   BGM 3 plus Wild Flowers WF1  or 6GM
• EF1 400 points per hectare

 

EF7 Beetle Banks

Beetle Banks are tussocky grass ridges, generally about 2m wide that run from one side of a field to the other whilst still allowing the field to be farmed. They provide habitat for ground nesting birds, small mammals and insects (including those that feed on crop pests). When carefully placed across the slope such banks can help reduce run-off and erosion but you must ensure they do not channel water and make any existing problem worse.

Mixture Options

BGM 1	With Cocksfoot
BGM 2	No Cocksfoot
BGM 3	With Cocksfoot and Clover

• Sowing Rates 20 kg/hectare
• EF7 580 points per hectare
  
  

BGM 1 – With Cocksfoot

20%	Crested Dogstail
20%	Creeping Red Fescue
20%	Cocksfoot
20%	Timothy
20%	Tall Fescue
100%

   

 

BGM 2 – No Cocksfoot

20%	Crested Dogstail
20%	Creeping Red Fescue
20%	Chewings Fescue
20%	Timothy
20%	Sheeps Fescue
100%

 

BGM 3 – With Cocksfoot and Clover

20%	Crested Dogstail
20%	Creeping Red Fescue
15%	Cocksfoot
20%	Timothy
15%	Tall Fescue
5%	Birdsfoot Trefoil
5%	Small White Clover
100%

 

6GM 

20%	Tall Fescue
1 0%	Cocksfoot
12.5%	Sheeps Fescue
15%	Creeping Red Fescue
10%	Crested Dogstail
5%	Tall Oat Grass
2.5%	Meadow Foxtail
10%	Common Bentgrass
1%	Black Knapweed
2%	Red Clover
2%	Birdsfoot Trefoil
1%	Ox Eye Daisy
1%	Self Heal
1%	Yarrow
0.5%	Cow Parsley
5%	Sainfoin
1.5%	Black Medick
100%

  

 

 

WF1

7%	Black Knapweed
13%	Red Clover
13%	Birdsfoot Trefoil
7%	Ox Eye Daisy
7%	Yarrow
3.5%	Cow Parsley
32%	Sainfoin
10.5%	Black Medick
7%	Self Heal
100%

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EF2 Wild Bird Seed Mixture strips or block  
(Max 0.5 hectare in 20 hectare)

This type of crop will provide a food source for seed eating birds in an arable landscape. The aim is to provide a year round supply of food, and sowing a combination of at least 3 seed bearing species as a mixture or in alternate rows. 

 

Mixture Options

WBS 1	Annual Mix
WBS 2	2 Year Mix
WBA 1	Autumn Mix

• Sowing Rate 40 kg/hectare
• EF2  450 points per hectare

 

EF3 Wild Bird Seed Mixture on Set-Aside land 

You can only locate this option on Set-Aside land if you do not have an obligation to sow a green cover crop (e.g. following Maize). Make sure to refer to your Set-Aside instructions before you decide where to put your ELS option. Any sowings must be sown as a  mixture rather than in alternate rows. Management Options are as for EF2.

 

Mixture Options 

WBS 1	Annual Mix
WBS 2	2 Year Mix
WBA 1	Autumn Mix

• Sowing rate 40kg/hectare
• EF3   85 points per hectare

 

EF4 Pollen & Nectar Flower Mixture. 
(Max 0.5 hectare in 20 hectares)

The incorporation of flowering species producing both Pollen and Nectar will enhance the food source for feeding insects, butterflies, bees and bumblebees.

Mixture Option
BPN

• Sowing Rate 20 kg/hectare 
• EF4 450 points per hectare

 

EF5 Pollen and Nectar Flower Mixture on Set-Aside Land

Management as for EF4. Can only be located on Set-Aside land if you do not have an obligation to sow a green cover crop (e.g. following Maize). As before check the Set-Aside instructions before deciding where to locate this option.

Mixture Options
BPN

• Sowing Rate 20 kg/hectare  
• EF5 85 point per hectare
  

WBS  1 - Annual Mix

70%	Spring Cereal
10%	Linseed
10%	Millet
10%	Mustard
100%

  

WBS 2 - 2 Year Mix

70%	Spring Cereal
10%	T.H.Kale
10%	Quinoa
10%	Yellow Blossom Clover
100%

WBA 1 -  Autumn  Mix

70%	Winter Cereal
10%	Oil Seed Rape Double Low
20%	Winter Vetches
100%

 

 

BPN

20%	Meadow Fescue
15%	Creeping Red Fescue
12.5%	Cocksfoot
12.5%	Timothy
15%	Tall Fescue
5%	Smooth Meadow Grass
3%	Red Clover
3%	Alsike
3%	Birdsfoot Trefoil
3%	Black Medick
3%	Early English Winter Vetch
5%	Sainfoin
100%

    
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OPTIONS TO ENCOURAGE A RANGE OF CROP TYPES

The decline of mixed farming is one of the causes for the falling numbers of farmland birds in England. The following options may help to reverse this trend.

EG1 Under-Sown Spring Cereals

The addition of a grass/legume mixture as an under storey to the cereal crop will reduce the need for agrochemical inputs, increase the diversity of habitat provided in the field and benefit farm wildlife.

The under-sown option can include up to 10% legumes, the grass ley must be retained until the 15th July of the following year. This is an optional rotation and can be moved around the farm.

 

Mixture Options

• Any agricultural mixture complying with the options
• EG1 200 points per hectare 
  
  

EG2 Wild Bird Seed Mixture in Grassland Areas 
(Max 0.5 hectare in 20 hectare)

• This option cannot be used in grassland that has been in permanent grass for five years or more.

 

Mixture Options

WBS 1	Annual Mix
WBS 2	2 Year Mix
WBA 1	Autumn Mix

• Sowing Rate 40 kg hectare
• EG2   450 points per hectare  

EG3 Pollen and Nectar Mixture in Grassland Areas  
(Max 0.5 hectare in 20 hectare)

This option cannot be used in grassland that has been in permanent grass for five years or more.

Mixture options

BPN

• Sowing Rate 20 kg/hectare 
• EG3 450 points per hectare  

 

WBS  1 - Annual Mix

70%	Spring Cereal
10%	Linseed
10%	Millet
10%	Mustard
100%

  

WBS 2 - 2 Year Mix

70%	Spring Cereal
10%	T.H.Kale
10%	Quinoa
10%	Yellow Blossom Clover
100%

WBA 1 -  Autumn  Mix

70%	Winter Cereal
10%	Oil Seed Rape Double Low
20%	Winter Vetches
100%

 

BPN

20%	Meadow Fescue
15%	Creeping Red Fescue
12.5%	Cocksfoot
12.5%	Timothy
15%	Tall Fescue
5%	Smooth Meadow Grass
3%	Red Clover
3%	Alsike
3%	Birdsfoot Trefoil
3%	Black Medick
3%	Early English Winter Vetch
5%	Sainfoin
100%

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*NEW*

BUTTERFLY MIXTURE

10%	Common Bent Grass
10%	Cocksfoot
15%	Creeping Red Fescue
15%	Sheeps Fescue
7%	Smooth Meadow Grass
5%	Rough Meadow Grass
3%	Tufted Hairgrass
5%	Yorkshire Fog
2%	Agrimony
3%	Birdsfoot Trefoil
0.25%	Common Nettle
2%	Rockrose
2%	Devil’s Bit Scabious
2%	Horseshoe Vetch
2%	Kidney Vetch
4%	Lucerne
1.75%	Red Clover
2%	Sheeps Sorrel
1%	Wild Pansy
2%	Wild Thyme
2%	Tufted Vetch
2%	Ribwort Plantain
100%

Species subject to seasonal variation    

• A blend of species which should be attractive to a wide and varied selection of butterflies
• Species could include the Gatekeeper through to a  number of the Blues  and Fritillaries and more common species like the Red Admiral, Peacock, Tortoiseshell, Brimstone and some of the Skippers
• Sow the mixture into areas which are unlikely to be disturbed on a frequent basis
• Ideal if used as an addition to a field corner management site
• The grasses in the mixture have been included to provide a source of food for a number of butterflies and stem feeding insects
• Sowing rate 6kg/ha

 

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HIGHER LEVEL STEWARDSHIP

Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) will be combined with ELS or OELS options and aims to deliver significant environmental benefits in high priority situations and areas. HLS is discretionary and concentrates on the more complex types of management, where land managers need advice and support and where agreements need to be tailored to local circumstances. The five primary aims of Higher Level Stewardship are:

• Wild life conservation
• Maintenance and enhancement of landscape quality and character
• Natural resource protection
• Protection of the historic environment
• Promotion of public access and understanding of the countryside

There are two secondary objectives where spin off benefits are sought from management designed to achieve the five primary aims, these are:

• Flood management
• Conservation of genetic resources

 

HC14 Creation of wood pasture

This option creates wood pasture on sites that are known to have been wood pasture. There could be a need to sow a specific grass seed mixture.

HC5 Ancient trees in arable fields

There may be a need to establish a grass buffer around the base of the tree.  These options protect ancient trees within an arable situation.

HF12 Enhanced wild bird seed mix lots

This option provides a valuable Winter food source for declining farmland birds.  It will be tailored to the specific target birds and will be specified by your regional advisor.        
                

HE10 Floristically enhanced grass margins

This option provides feeding areas for insects and birds by maintaining field margins that contain a mixture of grass and wild flowers. As this option allows for the grazing or cutting on a cyclical basis care must be taken over which wild flowers are introduced so that there will be no problems stock at a later date.

HG6 Fodder crop management to retain or re-create an arable mosaic (rotational)

This option returns fields to arable cultivation in order to provide valuable foraging sites for seed eating birds.

HJ5 In-field grass areas to prevent erosion or run-off

This option reduces the movement of sediment, nutrients and pesticides by wind and water.

HK8 Creation of species-rich, semi natural grassland

This option creates species-rich grassland on former arable land.

HK17 Creation of semi improved or rough grassland for target species

This option creates semi improved or rough grassland on former arable, Set-Aside, or temporary grassland.

HE11 Enhanced buffer strips on intensive grassland

This option provides additional habitat for invertebrates, birds and small mammals by managing buffer strips in intensive grass leys.

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THE AGRI-SUPPORT SCHEMES FOR SCOTLAND

Spring 2008 should see the introduction of the new Rural Development Contracts – Rural Priorities (RDC-RP) which will be competitive and the Rural Development Contracts – Land Managers Options (LMO) which will replace the Land Management Contract Menu Scheme. Farmers who are currently in 2 to 5 year schemes (from RSS, LMCMC and others) should complete their agreed term of contract and may even wish to extend their contract duration, if this is mutually agreed with the Scottish Government. It is likely that these new LMOs are non-competitive and that they are broadly similar to the existing LMCMS. The Unharvested Crop (Wild Bird Seed Mix), Species Rich Grass and Wild Flower Mixtures that we have offered for a number of years should meet any new LMO requirement. The grass margin mixtures that currently fulfill the requirements for beetle banks, conservation headlands and buffer areas are also likely to meet any new LMO prescriptions.

THE RURAL STEWARDSHIP SCHEME

The RSS has been closed to all new entrants for 2005 but any agreements that have been signed must be completed.

 

Creation of Species-Rich Grassland

Aim: To convert arable or improved grassland into species diverse grassland. 
 

A suitable seed mixture should consist of 80-85% non aggressive grasses and 15-20% native wild flowers. To allow flexibility the grass and wild flower mixtures are detailed separately and can be combined together in any proportion with a recommended sowing rate of the finished mixture of 6 – 8 kg/acre (15-20kg/hectare).

All our wild flower seed used in species-rich grassland is of UK provenance.

 

Mix Ref SRG 
Grass Species     

Mix Ref SRGWF
Wild Flower Species

 

GRASS MARGINS 

BEETLE BANKS

Aim: To create strips around or across fields on which insects can over-winter and breed early in the season. They should also provide feed and cover for wild birds. To be eligible, land should form a strip between 1.5 and 6 metres in width.

CONSERVATION HEADLANDS 

Aim:  To provide a wide, grassy margin which will become a feeding ground and habitat for insects, birds and small mammals. The headland should be a minimum of 6 metres in width around an arable field.

Mixture options

BGM 1
All Margins, Headlands & Beetle Banks             
20kg/ha

 

BGM 2
All Margins, Headlands & Beetle Banks (no Cocksfoot)
20kg/ha

   

 

Species  - Rich Grass

Mix Ref SRG

20%	Sheeps Fescue
10%	Red Fescue
20%	Meadow Fescue
15%	Smooth Meadow Grass
10%	Crested Dogstail
15%	Rough Meadow Grass
10%	Common Bentgrass
100%

      

 

Species - Rich Wild Flowers

Mix Ref SRGWF

16%	Ribwort Plantain
8.75%	Meadow Buttercup
8.75%	Black Knapweed
8.75%	Birds Foot Trefoil
8%	Ox Eye Daisy
12%	Self Heal
4%	Yarrow
8.75%	Common Sorrel
25%	Yellow Rattle
100%

    

Grass Margins

BGM 1 -With Cocksfoot
All Margins & Bettle Banks

20%	Meadow Fescue
20%	Creeping Red Fescue
20%	Cocksfoot
20%	Timothy
20%	Tall Fescue
100%

  

BGM 2 -No Cocksfoot
All Margins & Beetle Banks (no Cocksfoot)

20%	Meadow Fescue
20%	Creeping Red Fescue
20%	Chewings Fescue
20%	Timothy
20%	Sheeps Fescue
100%

 

 

UNHARVESTED CROPS

Aim: To encourage the practice of leaving areas of crop unharvested or partly harvested in order to provide cover and feeding areas for wild birds. Spring sow a Cereal based mixture including at least one Legume species. Part of the mixture should seed in the first year and part in the second.

Mixture Options
WBS 2 - 2 Year Option

• Sowing Rate 40 kg/acre

Available as cereal and forage components (packed separately) or as a forage component only (12 kg/ha) if using own cereals.

Wild Flowers can be added to any of the Grass Margin or Beetle Bank mixtures adding both colour and a source of nectar.  Species must be compatible with long grass situations. 

 

WBS 1 - Annual Mixture

• Sowing Rate 40 kg/hectare  

Wild Flowers can be added to any of the Grass margin or Beetle Bank mixtures adding both colour and a source of nectar. Species must be compatible with long grass situations. 

Unharvested Crop 

WBS 2 - 2 Year Option

35%	Spring Triticale
35%	Spring Wheat
10%	Thousand Headed Kale
10%	Quinoa
10%	Yellow Blossom Clover
100%

 

 

 

LAND MANAGEMENT CONTRACT MENU SCHEME

The LMCMS has 17 options with an aim of delivering widespread benefits leading to economic, social and environmental improvement.

2 of these options may require the sowing of new seed.

 

BUFFER AREAS      (Option 6)                             

Aim: To establish a network of wildlife corridors, reduce the risk of pollutants entering wetland areas and watercourses and enhance

natural habitats and features.

Mixture Options

BGM 1

BGM 2

Sowing Rate 20 kg/ha.

 

WILD BIRD SEED MIXTURE (Option 12)

Aim: To create patches or plots of bird seed and bird cover; through sowing mixtures of seed-bearing crops to benefit birds and invertebrates.

Mixture Options

WBS 2 - 2 Year Option

Sowing Rate 40 kg/ha.

 

BGM 1 -With Cocksfoot

20%	Meadow Fescue
20%	Creeping Red Fescue
20%	Cocksfoot
20%	Timothy
20%	Tall Fescue
100%

   

BGM 2 -No Cocksfoot 

20%	Meadow Fescue
20%	Creeping Red Fescue
20%	Chewings Fescue
20%	Timothy
20%	Sheeps Fescue
100%

 

WBS 2 - 2 Year Option

35%	Spring Triticale
35%	Spring Wheat
10%	Thousand Headed Kale
10%	Quinoa
10%	Yellow Blossom Clover
100%

 

 

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