GRH1: Manage rough grazing for birds
What you must do to get paid for this action and advice on how to do it.
This is an action in the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) scheme: expanded offer for 2024. You must read the SFI scheme information to understand the scheme rules and how to apply.
Duration
3 years
How much you’ll be paid
£121 per hectare (ha) per year
Action’s aim
This action’s aim is that there’s rough grassland with:
- a sward that has a range of heights
- areas of very short grass for bird feeding and nesting from the spring
- areas of surface water and wet features during the autumn and winter months
- minimal scrub, bracken and dense rush
The purpose of this is to provide habitats for upland breeding birds and other wildlife.
Where you can do this action
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 (read section 5.1 ‘Eligible land types for SFI’)
- registered with an eligible land cover on your digital maps
- declared with a land use code which is compatible with the eligible land cover
To be eligible for this action, the land must be at least one of the following:
- ‘Upland breeding bird areas for CS’ – you can find this on the MAGIC website (it’s not the same as ‘Priority Species for CS Targeting’)
- adjacent to a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) – you can find this on the MAGIC website
- high or medium priority on the ‘Flood Risk Management Priorities (England)’ data layer – you can find this on the MAGIC website
- adjacent to or includes a watercourse
- part of the Nature for Climate Peatland Grant Scheme – you must be able to provide evidence of this from the relevant Peat Partnership
Eligible land
| Eligible land type | Eligible land cover | Compatible land use code |
|---|---|---|
| Permanent grassland | Permanent grassland | PG01 |
Eligibility of protected land
| Land or features with protection | Eligibility |
|---|---|
| Sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) | Eligible – you must get SSSI consent before you do this action (read section 5.5 ‘Land that’s a site of special scientific interest (SSSI)’) |
| Historic and archaeological features | Eligible – you must get a HEFER before you do this action (read section 5.6 ‘Land with historic or archaeological features’) |
Available area you can enter into this action
Total or part of the available area in a land parcel.
Rotational or static action
This action is static. This means you must do it at the same location each year of this action’s duration.
What to do
You must manage the grassland by grazing or cutting it in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim.
You must not:
- graze or cut the grassland in a way that means this action’s aim cannot reasonably be achieved
- carry out mechanical activities in a way that may disturb breeding birds or damage nests
- apply digestate or any other industrial by-product, including paper waste
- apply any fertilisers and manures
- apply pesticides, except for herbicides to weed wipe or spot treat to control injurious weeds, invasive non-native species, nettles or bracken
- carry out supplementary feeding, except for providing non-energy based mineral blocks
- allow areas of scrub to develop on land containing historic or archaeological features
- carry out drainage works or change existing drainage, without written permission before work starts
You can maintain an existing area of rough grazing 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 Countryside Stewardship option UP2 (manage rough grazing for birds)
When to do it
You must do this action each year of its 3-year duration.
How to do it
It’s up to you how you do this action, as long as you:
- follow this action’s requirements – these are identified by a ‘must’
- do the action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim
Advice to help you do this action will be published before applications are fully launched from summer 2024. It will not be part of this action’s requirements.
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
- a grazing activity record if livestock are grazed on the area
- 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.
Other actions or options you can do on the same area as this action
You can do the following actions or options on the same area in a land parcel as this action. Some actions or options can only be done on the same area if they’re done at a different time of year to this action. For example, winter cover followed by a summer companion crop. Read ‘What to do’ and ‘When to do it’ to find out when this action must be done.
| Scheme | Action or option codes |
|---|---|
| SFI 2024 actions | OFC2, OFM2, PRF2, CIPM1, CNUM1, CSAM1 |
| SFI 2023 actions | IPM1, MOR1, NUM1, SAM1 |
| CS options | OR2, OT2, OT6 |
| ES options | No ES revenue options |
| SFI pilot standards | No area-based SFI pilot standards |
If an action or option cannot be located on the same area, you may be able to do it on a different area in the same land parcel. Read section 6 ‘Eligible land in other funding schemes’ for more information.
You can do the following actions or options on the eligible boundaries of a land parcel entered into this action:
- SFI 2024 actions: CHRW1, CHRW2, CHRW3, BND1, BND2 and WBD2
- SFI 2023 actions: HRW1, HRW2, HRW3
- CS option BE3 (management of hedgerows)
- the introductory level of the SFI pilot hedgerows standard