GS3: Ryegrass seed-set as winter food for birds

How much will be paid

£515 per hectare (ha).

Where to use this option

Available for Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier and Higher Tier

Whole or part parcel

• Rotational

• Only on:

  • temporary grassland
  • permanent grassland that has been cultivated and re-sown within the last 5 years

Swards must contain at least 50% ryegrass (perennial, Italian or hybrid).

Related Mid Tier options

These options and supplements can be located in the same area as the following options.

• OR3 – Organic conversion – rotational land
• OT3 – Organic land management – rotational land

How this option will benefit the environment

There will be an abundance of ryegrass seed in the autumn, providing food for many birds (including yellowhammers and other buntings, gamebirds such as grey partridge, and skylarks) until late winter.

Aims

If you’re selected for a site visit, we will check that delivery of the aims is being met and the prohibited activities have not been carried out. This will ensure the environmental benefits are being delivered.

During the spring the grass will be growing in preparation for a silage cut.

In summer, after the final silage cut (see recommended management for details) the grass will continue to grow un-grazed.

Throughout the autumn and winter the grass will be left to go to seed, providing the food supply to birds.

Prohibited activities

To achieve the aims and deliver the environmental benefits, do not carry out any of the following activities:

• take the first silage cut later than 31 May. Do not cut more than once, except for swards containing at least 70% Italian or hybrid ryegrass
• do not take a second cut later than 30 June for swards containing at least 70% Italian or hybrid ryegrass

On your annual claim you will be asked to declare that you have not carried out any prohibited activities.

Recommended management

To assist you in achieving the aims and deliver the environmental benefits for this option, we recommend that you use best practice.

We recommend that you:

• close the field for at least 5 weeks before cutting and take a silage cut before 31 May
• close the field after cutting and removal, allow the sward to flower and set seed in the autumn, and leave the sward undisturbed until 1 March
• part parcels must be at least 10 metres (m) wide

On swards containing at least 70% Italian or hybrid ryegrass, a second cut of silage (or hay) can be taken before 30 June.

This option can be moved between different eligible parcels of land, but the same total area (hectarage) must be maintained each year.

You should not:

• allow any grazing for at least 5 weeks before the first cut or, for Italian or hybrid ryegrass, in the period before the second cut

Keeping records

Where there’s uncertainty about whether or not the aims of the options have been delivered, we will take into account any records or evidence you may have kept to demonstrate delivery of the aims of the option. This will include any steps you’ve taken to follow the instructions set out above. It’s your responsibility to keep such records if you want to rely on these to support your claim.

• Field operations at the parcel level, including associated invoices
• Stock records to show grazing activity
• Evidence of the sward composition will be needed with the application
• When applying to use this option on permanent grassland, evidence will be needed that the grassland has been cultivated within the last 5 years

Additional guidance and advice

The following advice is helpful, but they are not requirements for this item.

How to choose a site

This option is designed to benefit buntings and other declining farmland birds, though it is also good for invertebrates and small mammals. For best results it should be used in areas that have:

• a population of buntings
• dense hedges and scrub for nesting
• invertebrate-rich habitat for summer feed (for example, leniently grazed, low-input grassland and enhanced arable margins)

This option can provide essential winter seed food. On mixed farms it can be combined with arable options such as AB9 - Winter bird food. (See guidance on the Wild Pollinator and Farm Wildlife Package.)

As a part-field option the best results can be obtained by placing it next to a hedgerow or wooded edge. However, it should be kept well away from hedges and trees to feed skylarks.

This option should only be used on areas that are at least 0.5ha in size. More birds will benefit if the option is split between 2 or more locations up to 500 metres (m) apart.

The option is intended for intensive grass farms that have little scope to put land in other grassland or arable options, where regular reseeding is a typical practice.

How to manage this option

The aim is to have a large amount of herbage over the winter, which will enable hard harrowing or an early spring cut.

If grass is in rotation on the farm, or is regularly ploughed and re-sown, this option could be used:

• on fields due to be ploughed or re-sown
• on thinned swards that would benefit from the self-seeding this option provides

Biodiversity

This option has been identified as being beneficial for biodiversity. All Countryside Stewardship habitat creation, restoration and management options are of great significance for biodiversity recovery, as are the wide range of arable options in the scheme. Capital items and supplements can support this habitat work depending on the holding’s situation and potential.

The connectivity of habitats is also very important and habitat options should be linked wherever possible. Better connectivity will allow wildlife to move/colonise freely to access water, food, shelter and breeding habitat, and will allow natural communities of both animals and plants to adapt in response to environmental and climate change.

Further information

Read Countryside Stewardship: get funding to protect and improve the land you manage to find out more information about Mid Tier and Higher Tier including how to apply.