Cross Compliance And Sheughs

Bryan Irvine, Countryside Management Branch, DARD

Sheughs are not only important for field drainage, but they also provide a valuable refuge for wildlife.

Under Cross-Compliance removal of field boundaries is not permitted, except by prior permission of DARD. This includes infilling or laying drainage pipes in open sheughs. Sheughs are ditches or open channels, with or without water.

Over time sheughs naturally silt up, and have to be cleaned to maintain the surrounding field drainage systems. There is a natural succession of plants in wet ditches and after several years, taller rushes and reeds become dominant. The taller plants shade out aquatic plants, and smaller plants on the ditch banks as well as speeding up the silting process. Removing this tall vegetation and silt opens up the sheugh again and improves field drainage.

Cleaning of sheughs should take place from autumn to late winter. This minimises possible disturbance to wildlife. Sheughs should only be cleaned from one side. This retains a balance of trees, shrubs and fringing vegetation, which maintains the natural appearance of the sheugh. Leaving vegetation on one side helps new plants to re-colonise on the other bank.

There are a number of ways you can improve the wildlife value of sheughs:

Re-profile the ditch bank in places when cleaning out, to create a shallower slope. This favours most wetland plants and invertebrates.
Deepen several short sections of the sheugh to allow open water to remain longer in the summer.
Where there is an extensive sheugh system, do not clear it all in one season. Spread the work over a number of years. This provides different stages of plant succession, and provides a range of habitats.

Further information on sheugh management is available from Countryside Management Staff at your local DARD office.