CAB12: Supplementary winter bird food
Source: gov.uk (2025-09-10)

What you must do to get paid for this CSHT action and advice on how to do it.

This action is part of Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier (CSHT). You must read the CSHT guidance (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/countryside-stewardship-higher-tier-csht) before you apply.

Duration

5 years

How much you’ll be paid

£732 per tonne of supplementary winter bird food

You can enter a maximum of one tonne of supplementary feed per 2 hectares of winter bird food (action CAB17) into your agreement.

This action can also be used as a standalone action with approval from your Natural England adviser – the quantity of supplementary feed will be agreed with your adviser.

Action’s aim

This action’s aim is that over the winter until mid-spring there’s a mix of seeds spread on the ground at different feeding areas which are:
- firm and free draining, such as farm tracks or hard standing areas
- close to areas of winter bird food, enhanced overwinter stubbles or game cover
The purpose of this is to provide seed-eating farmland birds (such as corn bunting, linnet, yellowhammer and grey partridge) with supplementary food when:
- seed is in short supply in the late winter period (known as the hungry gap)
- their breeding season starts
Where you can do this action

You can do this action on eligible land that’s located below the moorland line.

This action must be carried out with CAB17: Winter bird food (https://www.gov.uk/find-funding-for-land-or-farms/cab17-winter-bird-food-on-arable-and-horticulture-land) or it can be used on its own at the discretion of your adviser.

COP3: Supplementary winter bird food (organic land) (https://www.gov.uk/find-funding-for-land-or-farms/cop3-supplementary-winter-bird-food-organic-land) is the equivalent organic CSHT action.

Eligible land

You must do this action on land that’s:
- firm and free draining, such as farm tracks, areas of hard standing, fallow, overwintered stubble and winter bird food
Available area you can enter into this action

Total or part of the available area in the land parcel.

Rotational or static action

This action is rotational or static. This means you can either:
- move the action every year
- keep it at the same location each year
What to do

Your Natural England adviser will assess your land. They’ll work with you to adapt and agree the activities you must do to achieve this action’s aim. All mandatory activities will be set out in your agreement document.

To get paid for this action, you must:
- spread a supplementary feeding mix as agreed with your Natural England adviser
- keep a feeding diary with details of the feeding mixture (weight of components and cost), dates of feeding, method of feeding (hopper or spreading), amount of feed and the location of feeding areas
- select feeding areas near overwinter stubbles, winter bird food plots and bumblebird mixtures (as agreed with your Natural England adviser)
In the final year of this action’s duration, you must do this action until the end of the agreement or action end date, whichever is earlier.

You must not:
- use tailings (small seeds and chaff removed from the harvested crop) as supplementary feed
- use hoppers other than to supply an agreed amount of the total amount of feed provided during the feeding periods
When to do it

You must do this action each year of its duration.

Evidence to keep

You must keep evidence to show what you have done to complete this action. If it’s not clear that you have done this action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) may ask for this evidence.

You must supply the evidence if they ask for it, including:
- field operations at a land parcel level
- associated invoices
- photographs
Consents, permissions and licensing requirements

To apply for this action, you’ll need:
- Scheduled Monument Consent (https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/planning/consents/smc/) from Historic England for any work on scheduled monuments
- consent from Natural England for any activity on land designated as a site of special scientific interest (SSSI) (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/protected-areas-sites-of-special-scientific-interest#get-consent-to-carry-out-operations-on-your-land)
You may need to:
- agree an implementation plan or feasibility study with your Natural England adviser
- get advice from your Natural England adviser if you have other historic or archaeological features on your agreement land
- get a wildlife licence (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/wildlife-licences) from Natural England if your activities affect a protected species or their habitat
All historic and archaeological features (including scheduled monuments) are identified in your Historic Environment Farm Environment Record (HEFER).

If you’re a tenant, it’s your responsibility to check whether your tenancy agreement allows you to complete what’s required in the actions you choose. You may need your landlord’s consent.

Capital grants to support this action

If you need to complete an implementation plan or a feasibility study before you apply, you can apply for capital grants plans funding (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/capital-items-guidance-for-applicants-and-agreement-holders#capital-grants-plans).

You can also apply for capital items (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/capital-items-guidance-for-applicants-and-agreement-holders) to help you achieve the action’s aims. Your Natural England adviser will discuss eligible capital items with you.

Advice to help you do this action

The following optional advice may help you to do this action. Your agreement document will set out all the activities you must do.

What to feed

All seed mixes will usually include:
- 70% cereals such as barley, oats, rye, triticale and wheat (not maize) by weight
- 30% small seeds from canary seed, linseed, oilseed rape, red millet, white millet and sunflowers by weight – no individual species can make up more than half of the total by weight
- 3 of the following seeds – canary seed, linseed, oilseed rape, red millet, white millet and sunflowers
When choosing your supplementary feeding mix, aim to select a diverse range of crop seeds that most farmland birds on your farm like to feed on. For example, linnets enjoy eating brassica crops such as mustard and oilseed rape. Yellowhammers prefer cereals such as wheat and white millet.

A diverse seed mix will also help farmland bird species’ diet, improving their condition during later winter and early spring ahead of the breeding season.

The following seed mix will meet the preferences for most farmland birds that eat seeds:
- 50% wheat
- 20% naked oats
- 10% oilseed rape
- 10% white millet
- 5% red millet
- 5% canary seed or sunflowers
Agree all seed mixes with your Natural England adviser.

For more range restricted farmland birds such as cirl bunting, corn bunting and tree sparrow, you can use other seed mixes if you have agreed this with your Natural England adviser.

Where to feed

When planning which feeding areas to use, check you can reach them regularly. This is important if bad weather will cause you problems travelling to them during the winter.

Choose to feed:
- within proximity to complementary habitats such as areas of wildbird food, buffer strips, grass margins or hedgerows to minimise the distance birds must travel to find the food
- on firm, free draining and unvegetated areas to increase the likelihood of birds finding and eating the seed
Examples of suitable feeding locations include:
- regularly mown grass margins where the vegetation is kept short
- areas of short vegetation or bare ground within complementary habitats such as cultivated areas for arable plants, overwinter stubbles and winter bird food
- quiet, hard-surfaced farm tracks and clean areas of concrete (such as a sugar beet or muck pad) scattered around the holding – avoid spreading on concrete around the farmyard or close to domestic dwellings due to the higher levels of disturbance and proximity to vermin
When to feed

Start spreading the winter supplementary feeding mix before the sown winter bird food runs out. Farmland birds can then:
- survive during the coldest months in late winter when seeds become scarce within the wider farmed landscape – this period is known as the ‘hungry gap’
- improve their condition prior to the breeding season that starts in early spring
A typical feeding period is 20 weeks between 1 December and 30 April. You can shorten or extend the feeding period as necessary to match demand.

In some years, feeding may need to start earlier in the autumn if the establishment of winter bird food crops was compromised during the preceding summer. You can extend feeding into late April if the winter was extended.

How to feed

Scatter seed as thinly as possible over a wide area to avoid creating piles or long and continuous trails that can increase:
- spoilage
- pathogenic or parasite transfer between birds feeding more closely together
- losses to species such as rats
Either spread the seed by hand or using equipment such as a fertiliser spreader, slug pellet applicator or purpose-built spreader.

How often to feed

Feed at least once a week between 1 December and 30 April.

To better meet demand, reduce spoilage and losses to species such as rats. You can:
- feed smaller amounts of seed more often
- stagger feeding over several days at different feeding areas
How much to feed

Divide the total weight of mix as equally as possible between the multiple feeding areas.

You’ll usually need to supply up to 500 kilograms (kg) of seed at each feeding area. This equates to an average of around 25kg at each feeding area during a typical 20 week feeding period.

The amount you feed each week will need to vary to match demand and minimise wastage. Make sure seed is not left uneaten or scavenged by species such as rats.

Keeping feeding sites clean

It’s important to keep feeding areas clean for the health of wild birds.

Minimise the risk of parasites and pathogens spreading between birds using the feeding areas. To do this, you could:
- move feeding locations regularly (throughout the feeding period or at least every year) to minimise parasite and pathogen build up
- always remove spoilt food around them (if using hoppers to supply an agreed amount of the total feed provided)
- scatter the seed mix thinly over a wide area to avoid creating feed piles or long trails that can spoil more readily during wet weather and attract species such as rats
- stop feeding if there’s a visible build-up of uneaten food – you scan start again when birds have eaten all the seed mix
Getting extra funding

With approval from Natural England, you can sometimes use the CSP9: Support for threatened species (https://www.gov.uk/find-funding-for-land-or-farms/csp9-support-for-threatened-species) supplement with this action to cover additional costs. These are costs you may incur when establishing or managing supplementary winter bird food areas for priority species.

Examples of when you can use the CSP9: Support for threatened species supplement with this action include:
- winter supplementary feeding for priority species such as cirl bunting, corn bunting and tree sparrow using a bespoke, higher cost seed mix
- spring or summer supplementary feeding for turtle doves