Rural Payments and Services

The aim of this item is to benefit wading birds, such as lapwing, snipe, curlew and redshank by providing suitable wet areas within grassland to provide insect-rich feeding areas.

Scrapes are shallow depressions with gently sloping edges, which will hold water during spring and early summer when waders are nesting and rearing chicks.

You can undertake this item on any grassland.

You must identify on a map the locations of all proposed wader scrapes.

• you must create each scrape to hold water from at least 1 March to 31 May
• each scrape must be a minimum size of 20 square metres
• you must maintain a diary

You can claim £56.00 per scrape between 20 and 40 square metres and £93.33 per scrape greater than 40 square metres.

You can create wader scrapes on land entered into any of the following management options:

• Wader Grazed Grassland (creation of wader scrapes can be in the same field and over the same area as this option)
• Wader and Wildlife Mown Grassland (creation of wader scrapes can be in the same field but not over the same area as this option)
• Wetland Management (creation of wader scrapes can be in the same field and over the same area as this option)

There are separate capital items to support the creation of wader scrapes:

• Wetland Creation - Pipe Sluices
• Wetland Creation - Field Drain Breaking

The inspectors will check:

• the location and extent of the work
• you have created each scrape to hold water from at least 1 March to 31 May
• that each scrape is a minimum size of 20 square metres
• you have maintained a diary

Supporting guidance is available for this item.

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