CSP11: Manage scrapes and gutters supplement

The aim of this supplemental action is to maintain existing scrapes and gutters to make sure they have:

• an appropriate depth (and width for gutters), so it holds shallow standing water during the winter months (and during the spring and early summer if you’re managing wet grassland for breeding waders)
• gently sloping sides, so they can be used by feeding birds
• areas of bare soil in dry habitats
• bare, wet soil on the edges as the water level drops
• a rough surface, so there is a variety of water depths

The purpose of this is to:

• provide feeding areas for wading birds and wildfowl
• support invertebrates, plants and other birds

For the purposes of this supplemental action, ‘scrapes and gutters’ include:

• wet scrapes – these are shallow pools that provide seasonally wet areas, usually as a habitat for wildfowl and wading birds in wet grassland areas
• dry scrapes – these are shallow depressions or areas of bare soil that provide habitats for invertebrates, plants and rare birds in areas such as heathland and dry grasslands
• gutters (also known as foot drains, gripes and grips) – these are shallow channels that hold or transport water through wet habitats and provide feeding areas for wading birds

Soil can include sand in some habitats.

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:

• maintain scrapes and gutters to expose bare soil, usually every 3 to 5 years by methods agreed with your Natural England adviser
• maintain scrapes and gutters so they have a suitable size, shape, depth and profile for the target species agreed with your Natural England adviser

The advice you’re given from Natural England is specific to your land which means (where relevant) you may also need to:

• manage water levels so that scrapes and gutters provide areas of seasonal shallow water with wet and muddy edges
• maintain scrapes with an irregular shape to maximise the length of edge
• leave the surface of scrapes rough
• maintain scrapes and gutters between the dates agreed with your Natural England adviser

You must not:

• carry out work when ground nesting birds are present
• use spoil to fill hollows or low areas
• leave spoil to form a bund or bank around a scrape or gutter (unless agreed with your Natural England adviser)
• place spoil on areas of high soil erosion or where there’s potential for run-off
• place spoil where it could damage 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.