CBE4: Manage traditional orchards

This action’s aim is to maintain traditional orchards with:

• a range of healthy young, mature and veteran fruit or nut trees, with young trees pruned to maintain their characteristic tree form
• any standing, attached and fallen deadwood left undisturbed
• a species-rich grass sward between the trees, with suitable sward heights and structure

The purpose is to:

• provide a mosaic of trees and grassland which offers sources of food and shelter for wildlife, such as invertebrates and birds
• maintain landscape character

What you must do

Your Natural England adviser will assess your land. They’ll work with you to adapt and agree the activities you must do to achieve this action’s aim. All mandatory activities will be set out in your agreement document.

To get paid for this action, you must:

• record the location, species and age range of trees in the orchard at the start of the agreement
• leave any standing, attached and fallen deadwood in place (any exceptions will be agreed with your Natural England adviser)
• formatively prune new trees (up to 20 years old) – this is to help create a strong branch framework and healthy young trees
• maintenance-prune and shape established trees (more than 20 years old) at the time of year appropriate for your tree species
• keep the area around the base of establishing trees (usually the first 3 years after planting) clear of vegetation – this area will usually be around 1 metre diameter to minimise the impact on tree survival and growth
• manage tree guards, so they do not damage growing trees
• protect the trees from avoidable harm, including from machinery and grazing livestock and pests, such as deer and rabbits
• maintain existing tree numbers (as at this action’s start date) and, if necessary, fill any existing gaps (as at this action’s start date) by planting ‘traditional orchard’ trees – you can apply for capital item TE3: Planting fruit trees to help you do this.

You can apply for TE18: Restorative pruning of traditional orchard trees under Capital Grants to carry out restorative pruning of unmanaged, mature trees.

To manage the sward, you must:

• cut it or graze it with livestock (or a combination of both)
• maintain a continuous grass cover over any historic or archaeological features, with minimal scrub, bracken and bare ground
• manage scrub on the area in each land parcel
• allow some wildflowers, sedges and grasses to flower and set seed in the spring and summer
• leave some flower, sedge and grass seed heads undisturbed during the autumn and winter months
• keep existing wet areas and ponds

The advice you’re given from Natural England is specific to your land which means (where relevant) you may also need to agree a feasibility study or implementation plan to restore or create species-rich grassland in the orchard.

You must not:

• apply fertilisers, manure or lime
• apply pesticides – you may be able to use herbicides to spot-treat or weed-wipe for the control of injurious weeds, invasive non-native plant species, nettles or other plants if this has been agreed with your Natural England adviser
• plough, cultivate, harrow, roll or reseed, unless it’s to restore or enhance a grass sward for biodiversity
• use supplementary feed for grazing livestock unless agreed with your Natural England adviser
• remove dead or dying trees to replant with new trees
• carry out drainage works without written permission from your Natural England adviser
• damage any historic or archaeological features

When to do it

You must do this action each year of its duration.

Evidence to keep

You must keep evidence to show what you have done to complete this action. If it’s not clear that you have done this action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) may ask for this evidence.

You must supply the evidence if they ask for it, including:

• aerial photographs to show the location of trees
• field operations at the parcel level
• associated invoices