CIGL2: Winter bird food on improved grassland

The following changes have been made to this action for SFI26 (compared with the SFI24 version):

• you can now put all or part of a parcel's available area into this action – this only applies to SFI26 agreements, not existing SFI23 or SFI24 agreements
• minor updates to standard wording which appears in all area-based SFI actions

This action’s aim is that there’s improved grassland, which is maintained so it’s left to go to seed during the autumn and winter months.

The purpose of this is to provide winter food for farmland birds.

What you must do

You must maintain improved grassland entered into this action.

To maintain the improved grassland, you must manage it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim. This includes:

• cutting it for silage or hay in a way that allows it to go to seed
• leaving it un-grazed after the final cut for silage and hay

If you’re already maintaining improved grassland, you can use it to get paid for this action if it:

• meets this action’s requirements
• is not already being paid for under another environmental land management scheme option, such as CS option GS3 (ryegrass seed-set as winter food for birds)

When to do it

If you’re doing this action on the same area of land for its 3-year duration, you must:

• start maintaining the improved grassland within 12 months of this action’s start date
• continue to maintain the area of improved grassland in each subsequent year of this action’s duration

If you’re rotating this action around your farm, each year of this action’s duration you must do the actions for a period of time that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim.

Where you can do it

You can do this action on agricultural land located below the moorland line that’s:

• an eligible land type (as defined in section 5.1.1 ‘Eligible land types’ in the SFI26 scheme information)
• registered with an eligible land cover on your digital maps
• declared with a land use code which is compatible with the eligible land cover

Rotational or static

This action is rotational or static. This means you can either:

• move its location for the second and third years of this action’s duration
• do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration

It counts toward the 25% limit

This is a ‘limited area’ action. The total eligible area you enter into any combination of one or more of the ‘limited area’ actions must not be more than 25% of the total agricultural area of your farm. Read section 4.5 ‘Limited area SFI actions’ in the SFI26 scheme information for more details (including a list of the ‘limited area’ actions).

Evidence to keep

You must keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action, such as:

• field operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices
• photographs or other documentation

If it’s not clear that you’ve done this action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim, we may ask for this evidence. You must supply the evidence if we ask for it.