Rural Payments and Services

The aim of this option is to benefit a range of existing or newly created wetland habitats by maintaining appropriate grazing regimes. The option can also be used to manage newly restored floodplains to help manage flood risk downstream.

Wetlands are areas where the soil is saturated either permanently or seasonally. They support a range of plant types and reducing or removing grazing during the summer and then grazing in the autumn will ensure that flowering species can set seed and germinate.

Wetlands support a variety of plants, insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals and birds. They also help slow water flow and act as natural water storage zones helping to reduce the impacts of flooding downstream.

Land that contains either an existing wetland or is where you propose to create a new wetland is eligible. This includes fen meadow, reed beds and salt marsh.

You should not include areas of land covering rocks, scree, water, dense bracken etc. We will check this using the same approach we use to check land for the Basic Payment Scheme.

Assessing your land eligibility

For arable land where you wish to create new wetland you must adopt the Converting Arable at Risk of Erosion or Flooding to Low-input Grassland option and combine it with the Creation of Low-input Grassland to Convert Arable Land at Risk of Erosion or Flooding capital item as Wetland management is not compatible. Capital items required for wetland creation can be added as standalone items.

This option is available throughout Scotland.

You must identify on a map the locations of any existing or proposed wetland to be managed.

Where you wish to create new wetland you must specify in your application how you will raise water levels or reinstate floodplain in order to create the wetland.

You must manage the same location and extent each year for the duration of your contract.

• where you propose to create a new wetland you must do so by the 1 June in the first year of your contract, unless you have prior written approval to do otherwise
• where you propose to create low-input grassland you must do so by the 1 June in the first year of your contract
• you must graze and / or cut the area subject to payment
  - if grazing, you must adhere to an approved grazing regime defining the stocking density and grazing dates
  - if cutting, you must cut after 15 August and before 30 September

We strongly advise that you use the template below. If you choose to create your own plan, then you MUST provide all information requested in the template.

Failure to do so may result in your plan being deemed not fit for purpose and the option or item removed from your application.

• do not apply lime, fertiliser, slurry or farmyard manure
• do not allow the land to become heavily poached or vehicle tracked
• do not carry out supplementary livestock feeding unless with prior written approval
• do not spray, except for the spot-treatment of injurious weeds (requires prior written notification) or treatment of invasive species (requires prior written approval)
• do not plough or cultivate the area, except to aid establishment when creating wetland on arable land
• do not establish new drainage
• you must maintain a diary

If you have created wader scrapes then these require to be maintained during the contract period. Further information on maintenance can be found within the supporting guidance for the Creation of wader Scrapes capital item.

You can claim:

• £90.03 per hectare per year for management
• £284.80 per hectare per year for creation and management

There are separate capital items to support wetland creation, which include:

• Ditch Blocking – Peat Dams
• Ditch Blocking – Plastic Piling Dams
• Wetland Creation – Field Drain Breaking
• Wetland Creation – Pipe Sluices
• Moving or Realigning Ditches
• Creation of Species-rich Grassland (this is suspended for the 2022 round).
• River Embankment Breaching, Lowering or Removal
• Coastal Embankment Breaching, Lowering or Removal

Note that this list is not exhaustive.

The inspectors will check:

• where you create a new wetland, it is in place by 1 June in the first year of your contract
• you have grazed and / or cut the area subject to payment
  - if grazing, you have adhered to an approved grazing regime defining the stocking density and grazing dates
  - if cutting, you have cut after 15 August and before 30 September
• you have not carried out supplementary livestock feeding
• there has been no ploughing, cultivation or storage
• the area has not become poached or vehicle tracked
• there has been no application of lime, fertiliser, slurry or farmyard manure
• you have not sprayed, unless with prior written notification or approval as appropriate
• you have not established new drainage
• you have maintained a diary

Supporting guidance is available for this option.

Previous versions of this page

Click 'download this page' to create a version you can save our print out