Guidance

Countryside Stewardship statement of priorities: The Culm (NCA149)

Updated 9 June 2021

Applies to England

Choosing priorities

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

Countryside Stewardship applications are scored. Both top priorities and other priorities score points. Applicants should select at least one top priority. Choosing other priorities will improve an application’s score.

Biodiversity: top priorities

Priority habitats

Applicants should choose land management options and capital works that maintain, restore and create priority habitats and support priority species that depend on these habitats.

Priority habitats to be maintained include:

• purple moor grass and rush pasture (culm grassland)
• maritime cliff and slope
• ancient and native woodlands
• lowland heath
• neutral hay meadows
• coastal saltmarsh
• coastal and flood plain grazing marsh
• wood pasture and parkland with veteran trees
• riparian habitats associated with priority rivers and lakes
• arable field margins

Priority habitats (especially projects to enlarge existing sites or help join up habitat networks) to be restored include:

• purple moor grass and rush pasture (culm grassland)
• neutral hay meadows
• lowland heath
• ancient and native woodlands
• coastal and flood plain grazing marsh

Priority habitat creation 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

Managing priority habitats will 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. Applicants should choose land management options and capital works that meet the specific needs of the following priority species:

• a protected aquatic species
• willow tit
• cirl bunting
• greater horseshoe bat
• lesser horseshoe bat
• pearl-bordered fritillary
• small pearl-bordered fritillary
• marsh fritillary
• wood white
• brown hairstreak
• Anaptychia ciliaris subsp. ciliaris (a lichen)
• small flowered catchfly

Woodland bird assemblage

Parts of this area are targeted for their variety of woodland birds. 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

In these areas applicants should choose land management options and capital works that maintain or enhance conditions for woodland birds.

Wild pollinator and farm wildlife package

This package is a collection of scheme options that benefit 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 is voluntary, but an application will have a greater chance of success if options from the package are chosen.

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. These include:

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

Mid Tier

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

Higher Tier

An application will have a greater chance of success if the holding has already helped wildlife thrive under previous schemes. For example, where a Higher Level Stewardship agreement is coming to an end, and from other areas where priority farmland species are present.

Applicants can choose from similar groups of options, tailored to their holding, in consultation with a Natural England adviser. Typically, the options will cover a minimum of 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 benefits to farm wildlife.

Water: top priorities

Water quality

Applicants should consider options and capital works in the water quality options table that address nitrate, phosphate, sediment and faecal bacteria in the catchments to the Taw, Torridge, Upper Tamar, North Devon Streams and the Exe Catchment. Sediment in the catchments of Upper Tamar, Taw, Creedy and West Exe, Torridge, Strat, Neet and North Coast Streams catchment. This includes:

• bathing water at the Taw Torridge Estuary and Instow, associated with the Hartland and Clovelly Streams catchment affected by faecal bacteria
• shellfish water at the Taw Torridge Estuary and Exe affected by faecal bacteria
• surface water drinking water sources on the Lower River Tamar and Upper Tamar Lake affected by pesticides and the Upper Tamar Lake affected by nutrients
• protected aquatic species in the Torridge affected by phosphate, nitrate and sediment

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

• nutrients from fertilisers and manures
• sediment from soil erosion and run-off
• faecal bacteria from both manures and livestock
• pesticides from their use and disposal

Flood and coastal risk management

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

• Bideford

• land west of the River Torridge, extending almost to the coast at Westward Ho!, including the Kenwith and Northam streams
• areas north of Bridgerule in the River Tamar catchment
• land upstream of Bude in the Rivers Neet and Strat catchments
• areas north and southwest of Launceston in the Wooda Stream catchment and Roydon Stream catchments
• areas around the stream flowing through the village of North Tawton and a series of small watercourses east of the village of Umberleigh

Applicants should choose options and capital works to help towards managed realignment or wetland creation, where this will not increase flood risk, within the tidal floodplains of the Rivers Taw, Torridge and tributaries

Applicants should choose options from the flood risk table that:

• reduce the amount and rate of surface water run-off
• reduce soil erosion
• slow the movement of floodwaters on floodplains
• manage the coastline through coastal realignment in appropriate locations

Historic environment: top priorities

Applicants should choose active management which ensures the long-term survival of historic environment features and protects them against damage and decay. In particular some of the biggest land management threats in this area are from:

• scrub or tree growth
• plant growth
• arable cultivation

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

• designated features – archaeological features of national significance (scheduled monuments), registered parks and gardens and registered battlefields

• 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)

Applicants 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 provides a suitable level of protection
• remove scrub and bracken from archaeological or historic features following advice
• 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 parks and gardens, including structures or features that contribute to the original design intentions or feel of the parkland or provide for their biodiversity and amenity value
• protect or enhance the condition of registered battlefields

Woodland: top priorities

Woodland management

Climate change, pests (such as deer and grey squirrels) and various diseases threaten woodland. Applicants’ 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 objectives 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

Landscape: top priorities

Each application is likely to include a range of landscape features whose restoration should 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 are:

• hedgerows
• earth banks
• stone-faced banks
• hedgerow trees
• 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:

• establishing new wetland habitat, including culm grassland within the upper reaches of the Tamar, Taw and Torridge river catchments where this will enhance biodiversity and landscape character, reduce run-off rates into watercourses, improve water quality, mitigate flood risk and protect historic features
• establishing low intensity grassland options within the coastal plateau adjacent to the A39 in Cornwall where this will benefit bats, farmland birds, water quality, landscape character, groundwater resources and flood risk management
• restoring and enhancing the historic network of hedgerows to create wildlife habitats where this will improve habitat connectivity, reduce soil erosion, enhance water quality and landscape character, whilst mitigating flood risk within the Taw, Torridge and Tamar river catchments
• choosing options such as swales, sediment traps, buffer strips and erosion control in the Taw and Torridge catchment to improve both water quality and support 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 River Taw catchment
  • headwaters the rivers Taw and Torridge
  • the River Walden south of Bideford
  • the Rivers Dart and Binneford

Other priorities

Applicants should select at least one of the top priorities. However, applicants can also select other priorities, as this will increase the score of the application.

Historic environment

The following historic environment features are lower priorities:

• maintain designated and undesignated traditional farm buildings
• undesignated SHINE features of medium and low significance
• priority undesignated historic parklands

Water quality

In addition to the top priorities, the rivers of the Teign, Upper and Lower Tamar, Thrushel, Wolf and Lyd catchments have particular issues with:

• nutrients from fertilisers and manures
• sediment from soil erosion and run-off
• faecal bacteria from both manures and livestock
• pesticides from their use and disposal

Applicants should consider options and capital works in the water quality options table that will help address these issues. These options help improve water quality by controlling the source or the movement of potential pollutants.

Woodland management

Woodlands not included in the top priority categories listed above 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.