SFI Winter Bird Food - AHL1, 2, 3, & 4

AHL1

The intention of AHL1 is having a pollen and nectar flower mix which produces flowering plants on your land from late spring and for summer months. This is to provide food for pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hoverflies and to encourage natural crop pest predators as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) approach.

If you have land classed as ‘arable, including temporary grassland’ and ‘permanent crops – horticultural’, you are eligible to take part in AHL1 and will benefit from a government payment of £739 per hectare per year to do so, making it a potentially lucrative agreement.

To meet the terms of AHL1 you have to establish and maintain blocks or strips of pollen and nectar flower mix on either a static or rotational basis. To get started, establish what is a grass-free seed mix of at least six species, including two from Common Knapweed, Musk Mallow, Oxeye Daisy, Wild Carrot and Yarrow.

When it comes to maintaining the pollen and nectar mix, and in order to comply with the action, you need to bear in mind you can’t cut or graze them with livestock in a way that the action’s aims cannot be met, you can’t apply fertilisers or manures or use pesticides, except for herbicides to weed wipe or spot treat for control of injurious weeds, invasive non-native species, nettles or bracken.

SFI, as you know, continues to be an evolving document and, as of summer 2024 there have been some updates made to the AHL1 offer.

Now updated and renamed CAHL1, the new elements state that the land types, ‘arable used to grow crops’ and ‘arable land lying fallow’, are also eligible for this action. Regular vehicle access is not allowed on land entered in to this action, nor is turning allowed or storage of bales and machinery.

There has also been more detailed information added about how and when to implement pollen and nectar mixes. You must establish the block or strip between early spring and early autumn, within 12 months of this action’s start date and maintain at the same location for long enough to achieve the aim. This is recommended as being until the end of the second summer after sowing. Afterwards, you should re-establish the pollen and nectar flower mix block or strip between early spring and early autumn (either at the same location or a different location) and maintain it until the end of the agreement.

AHL2

This action covers winter bird food on arable and horticultural land and pays £853 per hectare per year. The main aim behind it is to ensure a supply of small seeds for smaller farmland birds from late autumn until late winter. Not only will this provide food sources for birds during colder months but will also encourage flowering plants in summer for the benefit of bees, butterflies and hoverflies.

To establish the winter bird food blocks or strips, sow a mix of at least six plants that will provide the seeds. However, you cannot use artichokes, reed canary grass, giant and intermediate sorghum, maize, miscanthus, sweet clover and tic beans as these are not suitable for the small farm birds the action aims to support.

Options such as cereals, brassicas or other small-seeded crops are ideal – think spring barley, oats, rye and spring triticale, red and white millet or fodder radish and forage rape and mustard, for example. Once you have established them, it is probable you will need to re-sow the blocks or strips to make sure there is an extended supply of seeds.

As with AHL1 pollen and nectar mix, AHL2 also was also the subject of alterations and updates this summer. CAHL2 now allows you to enter ‘arable land used to grow crops’ and ‘arable land lying fallow’ into an agreement to provide Winter bird food under SFI.

Other changes are that you must re-establish a one-year mix annually and two-year mixes every other year, so they continue to produce seed supply.

And rather than just establishing the Winter bird food blocks or strips within the first 12 months, you now need to establish them in time for it to flower in the first summer after sowing (ideally by the end of June). You also have to maintain the mix at the same location until late winter (end of February) in the year after it was sown (for one-year mixes) or the following year (for two-year mixes).

AHL3

This SFI action covers grassy field corners or blocks in order for you to have an intact grass sward throughout the year to provide habitat all the year round for a range of wildlife on your land and to also support an IPM plan.

It pays £590 per hectare per year, for a three-year agreement, and the concept is relatively simple. You just need to establish and maintain grassy field corners or blocks on arable and horticultural land entered into this action and this applies to sowing your own from scratch or allowing an area to naturally regenerate.

In the first year you can regularly cut or graze them to keep on top of weeds or to encourage new shoots but after that, you have to maintain the Grassy field corners or blocks in line with SFI agreement terms and there is a list of things to avoid doing on the parcel of land you have entered.

You shouldn’t graze with livestock to the extent it hampers the results of the action, you should only cut to control injurious weeds or invasive non-natives, you cannot use them for regular vehicular access, turning or storage, disturb breeding birds or damage nests, apply fertilisers, manures or lime and you can’t use pesticides other than for herbicides to spot-treat or weed-wipe for the control of injurious weeds or invasive non-natives, soft and hard rush, nettles or bracken.

AHL3 Grassy field corners or blocks was updated in summer but the crux of the new measure, CAHL3, is largely the same as AHL3. It has added ‘arable land used to grow crops’ and ‘arable land lying fallow’ as eligible land types.

Under the 2024 update, you can carry out CAHL3 at the same time as other SFI measures on the same land parcel. They are OFC3, OFC4, OFC5, OFM4 OFM5, OFM6, AGF1, AGF2, PRF2, CIPM1, CNUM1, CSAM1. Under the 2023 agreement, AHL3, this applied to just IPM1, NUM1, SAM1.

You can do the following actions or options on eligible boundaries of a land parcel entered into this action. This applies to CHRW1, CHRW2, CHRW3, BND1, BND2 and WBD2 for the SFI 2024 actions and HRW1, HRW2, HRW3 for 2023 actions.

AHL4

Buffer strips – do you see them as the edges of land and fields that you don’t pay particular attention to, or as something that can make you some money?

Entering land into AHL4 – 4m to 12m grass buffer strip on arable and horticultural land – can make you £515 per hectare per year and be beneficial for wildlife habitats, protect landscape and heritage features and the environment by preventing pollution and sediment from running into water courses.

So, for what is a relatively small section of your land, it could be worth looking at how you can incorporate this into your plans.

You need to establish and maintain a grass strip, which is at least 4m to 12m wide, on the edge of arable and horticultural land and this must buffer existing landscape or heritage features such as hedgerows, stone walls, woodland, ditches, rivers and streams, earthworks, in-field structures or buildings. You can also have a buffer strip next to trackways that channel run-off water directly into a watercourse or fence lines that form links between areas of wildlife habitat.

As with the other AHL SFI actions, you need to be aware that, once established, you have to maintain the buffer strip, provide shorter vegetation and a range of habitats by cutting, not disturbing breeding birds or damaging nests and not to use it for regular vehicle access, turning or storage. In addition, don’t apply fertilisers and manures or use pesticides, other than herbicides to weed wipe or spot treat for the control of injurious weeds, invasive non-native species, nettles or bracken.

The buffer must be established during the first 12 months of your SFI agreement and you have to maintain it for each of the three years of the agreement.

The 2024 review of the SFI scheme also saw alterations to the AHL4 sections, albeit fewer than there are for AHL1, AHL2 and AHL3.

CAHL4 states you can now undertake this SFI action on ‘arable land used to grow crops’, ‘temporary grassland’, ‘arable land lying fallow’ and ‘permanent crops – horticultural’. It also requires being cut in late summer after the bird breeding season, to provide some shorter vegetation and a range of habitat types.

Summary

With farmland birds being in decline, this raft of SFI actions are designed to help created the biodiversity and habitats that they need to recover and thrive. They are perhaps less labour intensive and come with a higher financial incentive than other actions within the SFI offer, making them an attractive option for many farmers.

If you already have buffer strips and grassy blocks in place and if not, entering them into the SFI scheme could be an ‘easy win’, enabling you to unlock new revenue with relatively little work.

As well as attracting birds and wildlife to your land, grassy blocks, buffer strips and other features also have wider environmental benefits such as preventing sediment run off into water courses and helping to alleviate low level flooding.