PA027/A/08 Sheughs And Cross-Compliance

01 February 2008

By Brian Finch, Countryside Management Branch, DARD

Farmers in receipt of Single Farm Payment are required to comply with certain standards known as Cross-Compliance. One requirement is to maintain land in good agricultural and environmental condition.

As part of this farmers are not permitted to remove field boundaries without DARD permission. This also includes infilling or laying drainage pipes in open sheughs. However, sheugh maintenance is permitted and beneficial.

Sheughs should be seen not only as drainage channels but also as a valuable landscape feature and wildlife habitat. In order to retain the wildlife value when cleaning, consider the following advice:

Clean every three to four years between autumn and late winter;
If there is an extensive sheugh system, spread the work over a number of seasons;
Leave as much vegetation along one side of the sheugh as possible to help re-colonise the other side after cleaning;
Re-profiling the ditch bank to create a shallower slope benefits wetland plants and invertebrates;
Deepen short sections to allow open water to remain longer in the summer.

For further information on sheugh management please contact Countryside Management Branch at your local DARD office.

NOTES TO EDITORS

All media enquiries to DARD Press Office, tel: 028 9052 4619.