CAHL2 Winter Bird Food: SFI26 Payment, Rules and Seed Mixes

CAHL2 headline facts

• Action: CAHL2 Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land, in the SFI26 farmland wildlife group
• Payment: £648 per hectare per year
• Duration: 3 years
• Land: arable land, temporary grassland, fallow and permanent crops below the moorland line
• Seed mix: at least 6 small seed-bearing crops suited to smaller farmland birds
• Sowing deadline: usually by the end of June, so the mix flowers in its first summer
• Limit: counts towards the 25% limited area cap
• Supplement: AHW2 supplementary winter bird food can be added
• Applications: closed, per GOV.UK

SFI26 is no longer taking applications

According to GOV.UK, SFI26 is closed for applications. The first window, for small farms and farms without an existing environmental land management revenue agreement, closed at 11:59pm on 28 August 2026. The second opened to all eligible farmers and closed at 3:48pm on 22 September 2026 after the budget was allocated.

Use this page if you have CAHL2 in a new SFI26 agreement or are planning bird food plots for a future round. Farms with AHL2 or CAHL2 under SFI 2023 or SFI24 stay on their existing agreement terms.

What CAHL2 pays compared with AHL2

CAHL2 pays £648 per hectare per year, paid in quarterly instalments. GOV.UK’s change log records that the payment rate was reduced for SFI26, and that this applies only to SFI26 agreements, not to existing SFI23 or SFI24 ones.

AHL2 was the SFI 2023 winter bird food action. The government’s table of SFI 2023 rates showed it rising from £732 to £853 per hectare from 1 January 2024. CAHL2 is the SFI24 code and continues in SFI26. One other SFI26 change: you can now enter the total or just part of a parcel’s available area. Each business can hold one SFI26 agreement, capped at £100,000 a year.

Purpose of the plots

The aim is an established winter bird food mix in blocks or strips, with plants that grow and flower in spring and summer and then set seed to give a supply of small seeds from late autumn until late winter.

The main purpose is food for smaller farmland birds through the hungry months. GOV.UK names finches, buntings, sparrows and partridges among the birds that benefit. The summer flowers also feed bumblebees, solitary bees, butterflies and hoverflies, and plots near crops can support integrated pest management.

Eligible land and the 25% cap

CAHL2 can go on land below the moorland line that has an eligible land cover on your digital maps and a compatible land use code:

• Arable land used to grow crops (arable or leguminous and nitrogen-fixing crop codes)
• Temporary grassland (TG01)
• Arable land lying fallow (FA01)
• Permanent crops, horticultural and non-horticultural (TC01)

SSSIs are eligible with Natural England consent in place beforehand, and land with historic or archaeological features needs an SFI HEFER. CAHL2 is a limited area action, so together with your other limited area actions it must stay within 25% of the farm’s agricultural area, counted across SFI 2023, SFI24, SFI26 and Higher Tier agreements from 2025.

Seed mix rules and management duties

Use a mix of at least 6 small seed-bearing crops suitable for smaller farmland birds. The mix must not include artichokes, reed canary grass, giant or intermediate sorghum, maize, miscanthus, sweet clover or tic beans.

An annual mix can include cereals, brassicas or other small-seeded crops. A 2-year mix can also include biennials such as kale, stubble turnip or teasel. Re-establish a 1-year mix every year and a 2-year mix every other year, on the same ground or elsewhere, so seed supply keeps coming.

Plots must not be used for regular vehicle access, turning or storage, such as bales or machinery. An existing plot can be paid if it meets the rules and is not already funded under another option, such as Countryside Stewardship AB9 (winter bird food).

Deadlines through the year

Establish the mix in time to flower in its first summer, which usually means sowing by the end of June. Keep it in place until late winter, usually around the end of February, in the year after sowing for a 1-year mix, or the following year for a 2-year mix.

Sowing after the end of June is not ruled out, but the plot must then stay put for 2 consecutive winters. If the start date falls too late to sow, you must establish the mix within 12 months. In the final year, keep it until late winter or the end date, whichever comes first. The first-year area also sets the maximum area for years two and three under the SFI26 rotational rules.

Records, supplements and stacking

Keep parcel-level records of field operations, invoices showing the seed mix and photographs or other documents.

If you apply for CAHL2 you can add the supplemental action AHW2 (supplementary winter bird food) in the same SFI26 application. On the same area you can also run SOH1 (no-till farming), SOH3 (multi-species summer-sown cover crop), PRF1, PRF2, PRF4, CIPM3, CIPM4, AGF1, AGF2 and organic actions such as OFC3 and OFM4. Older compatible actions include CIPM1, CNUM1 and CSAM1 from SFI24 and SAM1, NUM1, IPM1, IPM3 and IPM4 from SFI 2023. Boundary actions such as CHRW2, BND1, BND2 and WBD2 can sit on the edges.

Crop choice and growing advice

GOV.UK’s optional advice lists cereals including spring barley, oats, rye, triticale and wheat, plus red and white millet. Brassica options include fodder radish, forage rape, gold of pleasure, kale, mustard and stubble turnip.

Good sites get plenty of sun, are weed-free, sit near nesting, roosting or feeding habitat, and lie along a field edge while still able to extend into the field. Keep them away from buildings to cut vermin risk. Larger blocks or strips of around 0.4 ha to 5 ha leave more seed undiscovered for longer, stretching the food well into winter.

Sow between March and June into a firm, fine, weed-free seedbed, broadcast or drilled no deeper than 1 cm, and roll if dry. Check germination about 4 weeks later and re-sow if needed. Unlike several other SFI wildlife actions, fertiliser is not banned here; GOV.UK suggests it may be needed so the crops smother weeds and set seed. Watch for flea beetle, slugs, rabbits, corvids and pigeons, and control heavy weed burdens with herbicide or by hand.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CAHL2 in SFI?

CAHL2 is the SFI action that pays for blocks or strips of winter bird food, a mix of at least 6 small seed-bearing crops that feed smaller farmland birds from late autumn to late winter.

How much does CAHL2 pay in 2026?

CAHL2 pays £648 per hectare per year under SFI26. GOV.UK notes the rate was reduced for SFI26; existing agreements keep their own rates.

Is AHL2 the same as CAHL2?

AHL2 was the winter bird food action in SFI 2023, and CAHL2 is the SFI24 code that carries on in SFI26. Each agreement follows the version of the rules it was signed under.

Which crops are banned in a CAHL2 mix?

Artichokes, reed canary grass, giant and intermediate sorghum, maize, miscanthus, sweet clover and tic beans cannot be included.

When must CAHL2 winter bird food be sown?

Usually by the end of June, so it flowers in its first summer. If you sow later, the plot must stay in place for 2 consecutive winters.

Can I use fertiliser on winter bird food plots?

The CAHL2 rules do not ban it, and GOV.UK’s advice says fertiliser may be needed so the crops outcompete weeds and produce a good seed supply.

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Source: GOV.UK: CAHL2 Winter bird food on arable and horticultural land (updated for SFI26)