GRH12: Manage rough grassland for upland breeding waders

This action replaces GRH1: Manage rough grazing for birds which was available in the SFI24 offer.

This action’s aim is that there’s rough grassland for upland breeding waders (such as lapwing, snipe, redshank and curlew) with:

• minimal disturbance by livestock grazing during the upland wader breeding season to avoid breeding birds being disturbed or nests damaged
• varied sward heights and structure, including areas of short grass, for the upland breeding wader bird species on your land (or likely to use your land) to nest and feed during their breeding season
• areas of damp ground and wet features during spring and early summer
• minimal scrub, bracken and dense rush

The purpose is to provide suitable habitats and conditions to allow upland breeding waders to nest and chicks to fledge successfully.

What you must do

For the purpose of this action, the upland wader breeding season is during spring and early summer (usually between mid-March and late July).

When to do it

You must do this action each year of its 3-year duration.

Where you can do it

You can do this action on agricultural land located within a less favoured area (LFA) below the moorland line that’s:

• a land parcel of at least 2ha
• an eligible land type (as defined in section 5.1.1 ‘Eligible land types’ in the SFI 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 static. This means you must do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration.

Evidence to keep

You must keep the required written stocking record. It can be recorded on paper or electronically.

You must also 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 and other documentation to show management undertaken

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.