Guidance

Countryside Stewardship statement of priorities: Mid Northumberland (NCA012)

Updated 19 May 2021

Applies to England

Choosing priorities

Your Countryside Stewardship application is scored. Both top priorities and other priorities score points, but you should select at least one top priority. Choosing other priorities will improve your application’s score.

Countryside Stewardship is a competitive scheme and funding is limited. Not all eligible applicants will be offered a grant. This guide will help you choose the options that will help your chances of success.

Biodiversity: top priorities

Priority habitats

You should carry out land management practices by choosing options and capital works that maintain, restore and create priority habitats and will support priority species that depend on these habitats.

Maintain priority habitat such as:

• lowland calcareous grassland
• lowland dry acid grassland
• lowland heathland
• lowland meadows
• upland heathland
• wood pasture and parkland with veteran trees
• riparian habitat associated with priority rivers and lakes
• ancient and native woodland
• arable field margins

Restore priority habitats (especially projects to enlarge existing sites or help join up habitat networks) such as:

• lowland raised bog
• ancient and native woodland
• lowland heathland
• lowland meadows
• upland heathland
• wood pasture and parkland with veteran trees
• riparian habitat associated with priority rivers and lakes

• lowland calcareous grassland

• lowland dry acid grassland

Create priority habitats to extend or link priority habitat to increase connectivity and reduce fragmentation. In particular create priority habitat that will also contribute significantly to improvements in:

• water quality
• air quality
• flood and coastal risk management

Sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs)

Restore or maintain SSSIs that include features eligible for options – this includes options that will reduce diffuse water and air pollution effects.

Priority species

By managing priority habitats you’ll create the habitat needs for many of the priority species associated with this area. In particular by providing such essential elements as bare ground, areas of scrub and varied sward structures which will help these species thrive.

This area also has a number of priority species that need tailored management and advice. You’ll need to carry out land management practices and capital works that meet the specific needs of these priority species:

• corn bunting
• lapwing
• curlew
• willow tit
• a protected aquatic species
• red squirrel

Woodland bird assemblage

Parts of this area are targeted for their woodland bird assemblage. Natural England has assessed the area as being nationally significant where 4 or more of the following species occur:

• lesser spotted woodpecker

• tree pipit
• redstart
• pied flycatcher
• spotted flycatcher
• wood warbler
• marsh tit
• lesser redpoll
• hawfinch

If your land includes such areas you should carry out land management practices and capital works that maintain or enhance conditions for woodland birds.

Wild pollinator and farm wildlife package

The wild pollinator and farm wildlife package is a collection of options that benefits wild pollinators, farmland birds (such as grey partridge, tree sparrow and yellowhammer) and other farm wildlife (such as arable plants, great crested newt, bats and brown hare).

The package will be available for all eligible farm holdings in this area. It’s voluntary, but your application will score better and have a greater chance of success if you choose options from this package.

The options provide the essential resources (especially year-round food, shelter and nesting places) that wild pollinators, birds and farm wildlife need to survive and reproduce. This includes:

• sowing nectar flower mixes
• increasing flower resources on grassland
• sowing winter bird food mixes
• managing hedgerows and other key farm habitats (like ponds and ditches)

Mid Tier

You can choose from groups of options for different farm types – arable, mixed or pastoral. Typically, the options should be applied over 3% to 5% of the farmed land of the holding.

Higher Tier

Your application will have a greater chance of success if your holding has helped wildlife thrive under previous schemes. For example, where a Higher Level Stewardship agreement is expiring, and also from other areas, where priority farmland species are present.

You’ll choose from a similar group of options, tailored to your holding, in consultation with your Natural England adviser. Typically, the options will cover 5 to 10% of farmed land to target a broader range of farmland species and habitats.

Applying the right combination of these options over at least 3% of the farmed land or a holding will bring changes and benefits to farm wildlife.

Water: top priorities

Water quality

You should consider options and capital works in the water quality options table that address:

• nitrates in Sleek Burn / Hepscott Burn catchment
• phosphate in the Wansbeck catchment
• nitrates, phosphates and sediment in the River Coquet and Coquet Valley SSSIs
• sediment in the Lyne and Wansbeck catchments

These options help improve water quality by controlling the source or the movement of potential pollutants, including:

• nutrients from fertilisers, manures and organic materials
• sediment problems from soil erosion and runoff

Flood and coastal risk management

Your application will have a greater chance of success if you select options for flood and coastal risk issues in the priority areas of:

• Upper Pont to provide benefit to Stamfordham and Ponteland
• Back Burn in Felton

You should choose options from the flood risk table that:

• reduce the amount and rate of surface water runoff

• reduce soil erosion

• slow the movement of floodwaters on floodplains

Historic environment: top priorities

You should carry out active management to ensure the long-term survival of historic environment remains and to protect them against damage and decay. In particular we know that some of the biggest land management threats in this area are from:

• arable cultivation
• scrub and tree growth
• erosion from livestock

The following features are a high priority for active management in this area:

• designated features - archaeological features of national significance (scheduled monuments) and registered parks and gardens
• designated and undesignated traditional farm buildings and non-domestic historic buildings on holdings
• undesignated historic and archaeological features of high significance which are part of the Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England (SHINE)

As part of your application you should consider options and capital works to:

• revert archaeological sites under cultivation to permanent grass
• reduce damaging cultivation and harvesting practices through minimum tillage or direct drilling where this offers a suitable level of protection
• remove scrub and bracken from archaeological or historic features
• maintain below-ground archaeology under permanent uncultivated vegetation or actively manage earthworks, standing stones and structures as visible ‘above ground’ features
• maintain and restore historic water management systems, including those associated with water meadows and designed water bodies
• restore historic buildings that are assessed as a priority in the area
• maintain or restore registered historic parks and gardens, including structures or features that contribute to the design intentions or feel of the parkland or provide for their biodiversity and amenity value
• deal with specific issues that are causing damage or decay to archaeological and historic features, but which are not covered by standard options

Woodland: top priorities

Woodland management

Climate change, pests (such as deer and grey squirrels) and various diseases threaten woodland. Your proposals will need to address such threats where present.

Certain types of woodland are a high priority for bringing into management, including:

• protected woodland – those designated for their national biodiversity value
• priority woodland habitat – other unmanaged broadleaved woodland
• priority species – target woodland within priority areas for woodland priority species
• planted ancient woodland site (PAWS) restoration – conversion of conifer plantations on ancient woodland sites to broadleaf woodland within priority woodland habitat networks
• United Kingdom Forestry Standard – unmanaged conifer woodland within catchments subject to eutrophication and acidification, both to reduce pressures on the water environment and improve biodiversity

All management should comply with the United Kingdom Forestry Standard and other relevant guidance such as Managing ancient and native woodland in England.

Woodland planting

High priority areas for new woodland planting include:

• biodiversity – planting to buffer and link existing woodlands and other semi-natural open habitats within priority woodland habitat networks
• water quality – planting designed to reduce and intercept diffuse pollution from agriculture
• flood risk – planting designed to increase infiltration of heavy rain into the ground, reduce erosion, or slow the flow of floodwaters on floodplains

To provide the biodiversity or water benefits, new woodland planting needs to be in the right part of the landscape and to the right design.

Landscape: top priorities

Each application will include a range of landscape features whose restoration will form an important part of agreements. Top priority in the area is the maintenance and restoration of features that will enhance the pattern and scale of the landscape and add to the area’s sense of place.

Top priorities in this area for landscape scale enhancement are:

• hedgerows
• hedgerow trees
• in-field trees
• stone walls
• bankside trees

Multiple environmental benefits

Applicants should look to provide for multiple priorities by selecting options that achieve multiple environmental benefits.

In this area, the greatest opportunity to achieve multiple objectives is by:

• enhancing and expanding the area of wetland habitat within the Pont, Blyth, Wansbeck and Aln catchments in locations where this will benefit biodiversity, water quality, landscape character and flood risk management
• managing moorlands between Scots Gap and Rothbury to restore blanket bog, wet heath and upland mire habitats to benefit flood risk management, carbon storage, water quality, biodiversity, drinking water resources and historic features
• establishing new low-intensity grassland habitat in the Pont, Blyth, Wansbeck and Aln catchments, in locations where this will protect historical features and benefit farmland birds, water quality, landscape character, groundwater resources, flood risk management and biodiversity

• establishing swales, sediment traps, buffer strips and erosion control within the Pont, Blyth, Wansbeck and Aln catchments in locations where this will benefit water quality, biodiversity and flood risk management

• enhancing existing woodlands and expanding woodland cover in locations where well managed woodland can benefit landscape character, biodiversity, water quality and flood risk, in addition to wider climate change, economic and social benefits – key locations include:
  • the northern reaches of the NCA
  • catchments of rivers Coquet, Wansbeck and North Tyne

Other priorities

You should select at least one of the top priorities. However, you can also select other priorities as well, as this will attract points used to score your application.

Water quality

In addition to the top priorities, you should consider options and capital works in the water quality options table that address:

• phosphate and nitrates in Blyth and Pont catchments
• phosphates in the lakes in the North Tyne Lower catchment

Historic environment

The following historic environment features are lower priorities:

• undesignated SHINE features of medium and low significance
• priority undesignated historic parklands

Woodland management

Woodlands not included in the top priority categories are a lower priority for management but may still be supported.

Woodland planting

Areas are prioritised for new planting based on their potential to create biodiversity and water benefits.

Woodland planting schemes are scored depending on where the proposed scheme is in relation to the opportunity maps for woodland planting in England and how well the planting design will benefit biodiversity and water.

Other priorities for appropriately designed biodiversity schemes exist across the whole of England. Opportunities for new woodland planting for water only exist in certain parts of England.

Climate change

By choosing land management options and capital works which support the management of the vulnerable features and habitats listed in this statement, including where vulnerabilities are increased by climate change, applicants will support the resilience of biodiversity, water and other scheme priorities to the impacts of climate change, which is a cross-cutting objective of the scheme.