Annex 2 – Farm Environment Record (FER) map
You must complete a FER map for all Mid Tier applications
If you have a FER map from a previous Environmental Stewardship agreement and there has been little or no change to the environmental features on your land, you may be able to use that map (updated as necessary as explained under ‘Mark your environmental features and areas on your map’).
If you do not have a FER map from a previous Environmental Stewardship agreement and/or there have been changes to the environmental features on your land then mark them on one of the copies you’ve taken of the blank Options/FER map.
Remember that cross compliance requirements apply across the whole holding.
The FER map does not need to cover the whole holding but it must include any land parcels that have proposed multi-year options (permanent or rotational) and any proposed capital items.
You must mark on the FER map:
- any land parcels in your application that are at moderate to high risk of run-off or soil erosion
- all environmental features and areas in the land parcels in your application
- all land parcels under your SBI that will be used for rotational options during the whole 5 year period of the agreement
- all Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) or Scheduled Monuments (SM) within your control under your SBI.
There is an obligation to retain features mapped in the FER map and protect them from damage or removal for the duration of the agreement.
You must identify and map the features listed and described on the FER map(s) key that are present on your land.
Keep a copy for your records, and read the ‘Supporting documents and evidence’ section for more information about sending your maps to RPA.
Before you complete the FER, you should consider whether any of your land is at risk from surface runoff and soil erosion. You must do this for all of the land parcels on the holding. The risk assessment should be based on inherent risk, proximity and connection to a waterbody, such as a pond, lake, ditch, stream or river and on managed risk.
To do this use this the assessment form on GOV.UK, search for ‘Run-off and soil erosion assessment: Countryside Stewardship’ form:
Using the risk assessment you must now mark on the FER, in brown hatching, all fields that have been identified as at moderate or higher risk of surface runoff and soil erosion.
You need to mark all of your environmental features and areas on the FER map(s) (as shown in the map key). Walking your holding will help you see which land parcels are suited to Countryside Stewardship options. This may also help you to identify where to mark the environmental features on your FER map(s). Your Environmental Information map (EIM), available to generate, download and print, may also indicate features that you need to mark on your FER map(s).
Make sure your FER map(s) are clear and accurate.
If you want to use a previous Environmental Stewardship (ES) FER map, consider the need for any updates (read ‘Updating an Environmental Stewardship (ES) FER map’) and decide whether the updated map would be clear and understandable. For former ELS/HLS agreements the combined FER/FEP map may contain significant information not required for CS. If this is the case you may prefer to complete a new CS FER map.
Use the colours on the FER maps key. Confirm that you have a feature by marking the corresponding blank symbol on the right side of the map key with the coloured pencil you have used to mark that feature.
You must submit the completed map(s) as part of your application.
Please read the specific information below for the following features:
Marking ‘boundaries with trees’
Only boundaries with, on average, one or more eligible trees for every 100 metres need to be marked as ‘boundaries with trees’.
For example, a hedgerow of 400 metres would need to have at least four eligible trees along its length. Eligible trees are those that are native species, standing within 1 metre of a hedgerow and over 30 centimetres diameter at breast height.
These boundaries should be marked with a green cross over the boundary line, as shown in the FER map’s assigned colour key (in-field trees still need to be counted and marked as shown in the key).
If you are using a FER map from an earlier ES agreement and it shows the number of hedgerow trees, you do not need to change it.
Marking hedges
On accepting a CS agreement you will be agreeing that you will not cut more than 50% of hedges in any one year. This is a scheme baseline requirement that covers all hedges in Mid Tier and Higher Tier agreements. It covers all hedges marked on the FER map which meet the following CS hedge definition:
‘Any planted boundary lines of shrubs (a woody plant where the distance between the ground and the base of the leafy layer is less than 2 metres) which are over 20 metres long and less than 5 metres wide (between major woody stems at the base) and are composed of at least 80% native shrubs’.
This does not apply to road and trackside hedges that need to be cut annually or more frequently for public safety.
To mark the cutting regime of the hedges on the FER map you will need to use two different types of marking as indicated in the FER map’s assigned colour key, as detailed below:
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Hedgerow (meets 50% annual cutting limitation). These hedges are managed as the baseline requirement of the scheme – no more than 50% of these hedges are cut in any one year. (This includes hedges that are included in CS capital or revenue options and therefore have specific management prescriptions). These specific prescriptions should be followed by the Agreement Holder and checked on inspection, rather than the baseline requirement.
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Hedgerow (exempt from the cutting limitation). For hedges that need more regular cutting to maintain public safety.
If you are using a FER map from an earlier ES agreement, you must check that it is up to date before submitting it with your CS application. If the ES FER map does not include all the land parcels in your application, you must update your CS FER map for those new land parcels as explained at 3) below.
Please check and update it as follows:
- 1. On the ES FER map:
- a) strike out any land on the ES FER map that is not to be included in the CS application.
- b) add any new features not showing on the ES FER map (for example, a new pond).
- c) identify any hedgerows that are exempt from the 50% annual cutting limitation, by marking them using the symbols indicated on the CS FER map key.
- 2. Compare the new CS FER map key with your existing ES FER map key: If there are any features listed on the CS FER map key that are not on the ES FER map key mark them on the ES FER map, using the symbols given in the CS FER map key. (Some earlier ES FER maps did not include earth banks, scrub, bracken, boulders and rocky outcrops).
- 3. On the CS FER base map: Mark the environmental features and soil erosion risk on any new land parcels not included in the ES FER map.
- 4. Sign and date the updated ES FER map, to confirm it is complete and accurate. If you have made any annotations to the CS FER map you will need to include both the ES FER and CS FER maps with the application.
The updated map(s) must be clear and understandable. If we find that a FER map is not clear and understandable, we will not be able to accept it.