The Rural Stewardship Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2001

Regulation 2(5)

SCHEDULE 5 S INTERPRETATION OF SCHEDULES

In Schedules 1 to 4 and Schedule 5–

• “amenity woodland” means small-scale woodland planted and maintained primarily for the improvement of the landscape;

• “arable land” means–

  (i)

  land on which an arable crop is growing or has been planted;

  (ii)

  land which is lying fallow as part of a normal crop rotation (including short term leys); or

  (iii)

  set-aside land and which has been land within the meaning of (i) and (ii).

• “beetlebank” means a grass strip between 1.5 metres and 6 metres created in the margin of or through an arable field in order to allow beneficial insects to over-winter;

• “breeding cow” means a cow that forms part of a herd either used for rearing calves for meat production or used for milk production and which has borne a calf;

• “coastal heath” means land bordering the sea containing moorland or species-rich grassland affected by salt spray and exposure;

• “conservation headland” means land with a minimum width of 6 metres around arable fields on which cereal, linseed, oilseed or protein crops are being grown;

• “cropped machair” means sandy plains formed when calcareous shell-sand has been blown over glacial deposits and peat and which has been subject to cultivation within the last 10 years;

• “designed landscape” means a garden or a landscape, including parkland policy grassland, which is included in a record, recognised by the Scottish Ministers, of existing historic gardens and designed landscapes;

• “eligible land” means eligible land as defined in the Arable Area Payments Regulations 1996 M1 ;

• “extensive cropping” means a specified arable rotation system without the use of pesticides (except to control statutory weeds) and restricted use of fertilisers in order to provide cover and feeding areas for birds;

• “ewe” means a female sheep which is at least one year old on the 1st of January preceding the application for grant and which is kept in a breeding flock;

• “floodplain” means eligible land adjacent to a watercourse which is subject to flooding in times of high water level;

• “grass margin” means a grass strip between 1.5 metres and 6 metres created in the margin of or through an arable field in order to allow beneficial insects to over-winter;

• “hedge” means a line of shrubs or trees which delineate field boundaries;

• “herd” means two or more breeding cows of either pure-bred or first cross native or traditional breed;

• “improved grassland” means either land used for grazing where over one third of the sward comprises, singly or in mixture, ryegrass, cocksfoot or timothy, or land that has been improved by management practices such as liming and top dressing, where there is not a significant presence of sensitive plant species indicative of native unimproved grassland;

• “in-bye land” means that part of a farm not comprising the hill and rough grazings, the bulk of which is used for arable and grassland production;

• “in-bye wet grassland” means pasture or meadow that is periodically inundated with water;

• “Less Favoured Area” means land which is disadvantaged land or severely disadvantaged land as defined in the Hill Livestock (Compensatory Allowances) Regulations 1996 M2 ;

• “lowland heath” means land generally found below 300 metres in altitude, usually characterised by plants such as heather, dwarf grass and cross based heath. Amongst the heather layer, there are generally scattered areas of trees and scrub;

• “lowland raised bog” means an isolated peat deposit over one metre thick that is surrounded by non peat soils;

• “machair” means sandy plains formed when calcareous shell-sand has been blown over glacial deposits and peat but does not include cropped machair;

• “muirburn” has the same meaning as in section 39(1)(f) of the Hill Farming Act 1946 M3 ;

• “native breeds” means any of the following breeds: Aberdeen Angus, Ayrshire, Belted Galloway, Galloway, Highland, Luing, Shetland or Shorthorn and first crosses of these native breeds;

• “native woodland” means self-seeded woodland of native species or woodland derived from an originally naturally occurring woodland;

• “overgrazing” means grazing land with livestock in such numbers as adversely to affect the growth, quality or species composition of vegetation (other than vegetation normally grazed to destruction) on that land to a significant degree;

• “pesticides” means herbicides, insecticides or fungicides;

• “poaching” means the trampling or treading of the ground surface by livestock resulting in permanent damage to the vegetation;

• “reverted improved grassland” means land, previously improved by agricultural management operations which, from an agricultural viewpoint, has degenerated and is now showing significant presence of plant species indicative of unimproved grassland;

• “rough grazings” means land containing semi-natural vegetation including heathland, heather moorland, bog and rough grassland used or suitable for use as grazing;

• “scrub” means low growing woody vegetation of small trees and shrubs including linear scrub along field margins;

• “semi-natural woodland” means native woodland which has been modified by human activity;

• “small unit” means an agricultural business with no more than 10 hectares of in bye land;

• “species-rich grassland” means in-bye land used for grazing or mowing which is not normally treated with mineral fertiliser or lime and does not constitute rough grazing, but which is floristically diverse;

• “statutory weeds” means spear thistle (cirsium vulgare), creeping or field thistle (cirsium arvense), curled dock (rumex crispus), broad-leaved dock (rumex obtusifolius) and ragwort (senecio jacobaea);

• “unimproved grassland” means in-bye land used for grazing or mowing which is not normally treated with mineral fertiliser or lime and does not constitute either improved grassland or rough grazings;

• “undergrazing” means grazing at a level where there is evidence of the annual growth not being fully utilised or scrub or coarse vegetation is becoming evident and such changes are detrimental to the environmental interest of the site;

• “water margin” means an area of in-bye land bordering an area of still or flowing water; and

• “wetland” means in-bye ground which is normally saturated with water for a significant proportion of the year.

Marginal Citations

M1 S.I. 1996/3142, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.

M2 S.I. 1996/1500, amended by S.I. 1997/33.

M3 1946 c.73.