Only a hobby farmer with 40 acres, was going to apply for a Upland Offer based on permanent grassland and haymaking supplement with hedge keeping as a second option. However just flicking through the various guides etc and came across this beauty regarding record keeping
Countryside Stewardship Assessment of eligibility for permanent grassland (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Extract....
This table is provided for you to keep a record of the species identified in the parcels selected for GS2, GS5, GS6 or OT2, where this is the qualifying criteria being applied in Table 1. A range of less common or widespread wildflowers are found in more species-rich grassland and should be recorded if identified. Typical grass species are cock’s-foot, common bent, crested dog’s-tail, creeping bent, false oatgrass, meadow fescue, meadow foxtail, red fescue, sweet vernal grass, Timothy tufted hair-grass and Yorkshirefog. Typical wildflower species of semi-improved grassland are Autumn hawkbit, black medick, burnet saxifrage, bulbous buttercup, common cat’s-ear, common fleabane, common sorrel, creeping cinquefoil, crosswort, cuckooflower, field woodrush, germander speedwell, hedge bedstraw, lesser trefoil, ribwort plantain, meadow buttercup, red clover, self-heal, smooth hawksbeard, tufted vetch, wild carrot and yarrow. Typical species of species-rich grassland/unimproved grassland, depending on the actual type, are agrimony, betony, black knapweed, bugle, common bird’s-foot trefoil, common meadow-rue, common rock rose, cowslip, devil’s-bit scabious, eyebrights, fairly flax, great burnet, harebell, hawkbits, lady’s bedstraw, marsh valerian, marsh marigold, meadowsweet, milkwort, mouse-ear hawkweed, orchids, ragged robin, salad burnet, thyme, tormentil, wood anemone, yellow rattle, small sedges
Seriously....I'm supposed to survey my fields and identify which of these I have???
I really, really with Jeremy Clarkson could do a segment on this, it would be priceless.
Just not worth it for £1500 a year.
Countryside Stewardship Assessment of eligibility for permanent grassland (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Extract....
This table is provided for you to keep a record of the species identified in the parcels selected for GS2, GS5, GS6 or OT2, where this is the qualifying criteria being applied in Table 1. A range of less common or widespread wildflowers are found in more species-rich grassland and should be recorded if identified. Typical grass species are cock’s-foot, common bent, crested dog’s-tail, creeping bent, false oatgrass, meadow fescue, meadow foxtail, red fescue, sweet vernal grass, Timothy tufted hair-grass and Yorkshirefog. Typical wildflower species of semi-improved grassland are Autumn hawkbit, black medick, burnet saxifrage, bulbous buttercup, common cat’s-ear, common fleabane, common sorrel, creeping cinquefoil, crosswort, cuckooflower, field woodrush, germander speedwell, hedge bedstraw, lesser trefoil, ribwort plantain, meadow buttercup, red clover, self-heal, smooth hawksbeard, tufted vetch, wild carrot and yarrow. Typical species of species-rich grassland/unimproved grassland, depending on the actual type, are agrimony, betony, black knapweed, bugle, common bird’s-foot trefoil, common meadow-rue, common rock rose, cowslip, devil’s-bit scabious, eyebrights, fairly flax, great burnet, harebell, hawkbits, lady’s bedstraw, marsh valerian, marsh marigold, meadowsweet, milkwort, mouse-ear hawkweed, orchids, ragged robin, salad burnet, thyme, tormentil, wood anemone, yellow rattle, small sedges
Seriously....I'm supposed to survey my fields and identify which of these I have???
I really, really with Jeremy Clarkson could do a segment on this, it would be priceless.
Just not worth it for £1500 a year.