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Habitat Type: Winter stubble
Habitat Type: Winter stubble
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Written by Oliver Lewis
Updated over 5 months ago

© 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.

Arable crops left in the ground (stubble) over winter after harvesting. These fields of crops are from the cereal groups (grasses grown for farming and food production).

Stubble is what is left of the crop after harvesting, with the remains of the crops (such as the leaves and cut stalk) and surrounding weeds often giving the appearance of lots of sticks pointing out of the ground.

Special Notes:

Winter Stubbles are often left in the ground until February or July (if an enhanced winter stubble) the following year.

Generally, stubbles and crops are, or follow, the harvest of: barley, canary seed, oats, red millet, rye, triticale, wheat and white millet. However, As a rule, there usually doesn't tend to be that many winter stubbles that follow maize harvest as this can increase soil erosion and surface run-off.

Assessment Questions:

- Are remnants of cereal crops left in the field post-harvest?

- Are these remnants left over the winter period?

- Do these fields include stubble from barley, oats, wheat, or similar cereal crops?

- Is the stubble part of a crop rotation schedule, particularly following barley, oat, or wheat harvest?

If YES, then it is likely 'Cropland - Winter Stubble'

How to Create / Enhance to a "Good" condition

Do not try to create following a maize harvest, as this can increase soil erosion and surface runoff, particularly on high-risk fields. If your land is also in the arable and horticultural soils standard, do not use stubbles following a root crop harvest.

Do not:

• cut or graze the area of overwintered stubble

• apply fertilisers like lime

• undersow your crops, as these crops tend to contain fewer weed seeds and spilt grains (Source: HM Government)"

Useful Resources

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.

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