© Bill Meek (Licensed under CC BY 4.0). Kindly recommended by UKCEH.
The following is a short summary of the habitat type and how to create/enhance it to a "good" condition. For an informed position, please refer to official up-to-date Government guidance or the UK Government's Condition Assessment Sheet.
Description: Margins, strips, blocks or corners around arable fields which are covered in wild bird cover crops. These crops are left unharvested over the winter so that the seeds produced by the plants can benefit the farmland birds. The arable field must be in a crop rotation that includes an arable crop (for example, wheat, barley, maize, oats), even if, in certain years, the field is in temporary grass, set-aside or fallow. The main benefits of wild bird seed mixes are that they provide food and seed for the animals (specifically birds) over winter and summer, as well as shelter and cover over winter.
If you wish to select this habitat on a habitat selection screen, it can be found under Cropland (see guide).
This habitat is usually located on the outer 2–12 m margin of the arable field, although when planted as blocks, it occasionally extends further into the field centre. If you are looking to create this habitat, it should be around 6m wide.
How to Create / Enhance to a "Good" condition
How to create
Can be done in strips or blocks. Note that a competent person should demonstrate an appropriate level of knowledge and experience in creating, enhancing and/or managing arable habitats. You may wish to note that advice will be sought from an agricultural land agent.
You should not create this habitat in:
• cool, north facing shaded locations, as most seeds will not germinate
• places with perennial and arable grass weed problems (Source: HM Government)
How to get a "moderate" rating
It is not possible to get a moderate rating for this habitat
How to get a "good" rating
It is not possible to get a good rating for this habitat
There are no conditions for this habitat type.
Useful Resources
If you are interested in enhancing or creating this habitat, you should consider the following (all recommended by CIEEM or HM Government).
Guide 1 - Arable Field Margins
Guide 4 - Arable Field Margins
Please note that this is a simple guide to help identify the habitat. For a definitive description, please refer to UKHab documentation. Joe's Blooms takes no responsibility for the content of external links.