Wild Bird Cover
Wild Bird Cover is a spring-sown crop left unharvested over winter to provide food for farmland birds.
- Maximum area for payment is three hectares
- Establish Wild Bird Cover by 31st May
- Crop must remain in situ until 15th March the following year
- Livestock may enter the parcel from 15th March in the year of replanting
- Fertiliser can be applied at a maximum of half rate for a cereal crop
- Increase seeding rate by one-third if broadcasting and roll immediately after sowing
- One- and two-year options available
One-year option
| Seed options | Seed Rate where drilled* |
| Cereal and Linseed (Cereal can be oats, wheat, barley or triticale) |
75 kg/ha cereal and 15 kg/ha of linseed |
| Cereal and Mustard (Cereal can be oats, wheat, barley or triticale) |
75kg/ha Cereal and 10 kg/ha of mustard |
* Increase seeding rate by one-third if broadcasting
Two-year option
- Must contain kale and a cereal (wheat/barley/oats/triticale)
- Seed cannot be mixed
- Half plot to be sown with kale, other half with cereal
| Year | Sowing guidelines | Seed rate where drilled* |
| 1 | Establish half the plot with cereal and half with kale | 75 kg/0.5 ha cereal and 3 kg/0.5 ha of kale |
| 2 | Kale remains in-situ, re-establish cereal in half of plot | 75 kg/0.5 ha of cereal |
| 3 | Re-establish half of plot as kale and half as cereal | 75 kg/0.5 ha cereal & 3 kg/0.5 ha of kale |
| 4 | Kale remains in situ, re-establish cereal in half of plot | 75 kg/0.5 ha of cereal |
| 5 | Re-establish half of plot as kale and half as cereal | 75 kg/0.5 ha cereal & 3 kg/0.5 ha of kale |
* Increase seeding rate by one-third if broadcasting
Ask an expert
To learn more about Wild Bird Cover or any of our agricultural grass seed mixtures, please ask a Germinal expert today.
| Sowing rate | Sowing time | Sowing method | Maintenance |
| The minimum area is 1 ha where it is taken as a priority action and 0.25 ha where it is taken as a general action and maximum area for payment is 3 ha. | Sow before 31 May. | Drilling is the preferred sowing method; however broadcasting of the seed is permitted. If broadcasting, increase the seed rates by between one third (for smaller seeds) and a half (for larger seeds), and roll immediately post sowing. | Crop must remain in situ until 15 March the following year. In the year in which parcels have been fully replanted, livestock may enter the parcel from 15 March to planting time, to aid in the decomposition of the trash. |
Go to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine website on GLAS (Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme) for the latest specification – click here.