SW2: 4m to 6m buffer strip on intensive grassland

Find out about eligibility and requirements for the 4m to 6m buffer strip on intensive grassland option.

How much will be paid

£235 per hectare (ha)

Where to use this option

Available for Countryside Stewardship Mid Tier and Higher Tier

On the edges of intensively managed, improved grassland fields that are:

  • receiving more than 100 kilograms (kg) for every hectare (ha) of nitrogen per year in the form of fertilisers or manures.
  • between the productive part of the field and a feature or habitat (which must be identified on the Farm Environment Record (FER)), such as:
    • hedgerows and hedge trees
    • remnants of trees on former boundary lines
    • stone walls
    • woodlands
    • ditches, rivers and streams

This option can also be used:

  • next to trackways that channel runoff water directly to a watercourse
  • next to fence lines that form links between areas of wildlife habitat identified on the FER

Where this option cannot be used

  • Overlapping a public right of way (such as a footpath or bridleway)

The following options can be used on the same area as this option.

How this option will benefit the environment

It provides new habitat and protects existing landscape features. When placed next to existing features, it will protect water courses, provide habitat for wildlife, and form links or corridors between other habitats.

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.

Throughout the year there will be a 4 to 6 metre (m) wide grass strip. Establish this during the first year and maintain for the period of the agreement. There will be an intact grass sward with no evidence of damage from vehicle or stock access routes.

During the summer, if the rest of the field is mown, leave the buffer strip un-cut.

Prohibited activities

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

  • Apply any fertilisers or manures
  • Use pesticides, except for herbicides to weed wipe or spot treat injurious weeds, invasive non-native species, nettles or bracken
  • Remove fallen timber or the limbs (including lower limbs) of any hedgerow trees that are over 30 centimetres (cm) in diameter at breast height
  • Cut the buffer strip, except to control woody growth

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

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:

  • leave an uncut buffer strip 4m to 6m wide around the edge of any fields that will be mown (livestock can graze this strip along with the aftermath)
  • only cut the sward to control woody growth
  • where there are hedgerow trees over 30cm in diameter at breast height, leave fallen timber beneath the canopy, stacking any timber that obstructs management of the buffer strip

Keeping records

Where there is uncertainty about whether the aims of the options have been delivered, we will take into account any records or evidence you may have kept demonstrating delivery of the aims of the option. This will include any steps you’ve taken to follow the recommended management 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
  • Input records showing that the grassland has received more than 100kg of nitrogen per ha per year

At the start of each claim year, you may be asked to take and submit the following photographic records.

  • Photographs of the strips

Additional guidance and advice

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

Using this option on existing buffer strips

This option can be used on buffer strips that are already established, unless they are required or being paid for through another scheme. Buffer strips established under Entry Level Stewardship (ELS) can continue to be managed under a new Countryside Stewardship agreement.

How to choose a site

To benefit wildlife, select a location that links habitats, or that is next to:

  • watercourses
  • hedgerows (particularly hedges with mature hedgerow trees)
  • stone walls
  • remnants of trees on former boundary lines
  • groups of trees in strips along the edge of woodland

To protect archaeological features, create the buffer strip beside:

  • archaeological features located above the ground
  • historic features
  • metal parkland fencing

How to manage the buffer strip

  • Remove any subsoil compaction where required to prepare a seedbed, except on archaeological features
  • Control weeds and cut regularly in the first 12 to 24 months of establishment to encourage grasses to tiller
  • Avoid cutting when the soil is wet, to prevent compaction You should consider using option SW11 - Riparian management strip - on sloping fields next to a watercourse where there is a risk of soil erosion, runoff or bankside trampling.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

This option can form part of an IPM approach to prevent the establishment of pests, weeds and diseases. If successful, appropriate and within proximity of cropped areas, these may limit the need for the use of Plant Protection Products and enhance wildlife and biodiversity on your holding. Read information on IPM at AHDB (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board) Integrated Pest Management and LEAF (Linking Environment and Farming).

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.

Published 2 April 2015
Last updated 8 February 2022 + show all updates
  1. New payment rate from 1 January 2022.

  2. Additional guidance and advice section updated - this option can form part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to prevent the establishment of pests, weeds and diseases.

  3. 'Air quality' added to Land use.

  4. Option updated for agreements starting 1 January 2022

  5. Updated for 2017 applications.

  6. Information updated for applications in 2016.

  7. First published.