AB1 Nectar Flower Mix
AB1 Countryside Stewardship combines longer-lived flowering species with shorter-lived legumes for pollinators such as bees, butterflies, hoverflies and moths.
This AB1 seed mix is ideal for lower-yielding areas with a sunny aspect, facing south or south-southwest, flowering from late spring to autumn.
Available from Germinal, AB1 Nectar Flower Mix provides areas of flowering plants delivering pollen and nectar from late spring to autumn. This supports pollinators such as bees, butterflies, hoverflies and moths.
AB1 seed mix example
- Red Clover
- Alsike Clover
- Birdsfoot Trefoil
- Vetch
- Yarrow
- Wild Carrot
- Lucerne
- Agri Black Medick / Yellow
AB1 Countryside Stewardship grant
The AB1 Nectar Flower mixture is eligible for a payment of £614 per hectare under the Countryside Stewardship Mid and Higher Tier agreements.
Find out more: DEFRA Countryside Stewardship grants
Ask an expert
Please click here to ask a Germinal expert about Countryside Stewardship AB1 or any other mixtures in the scheme.
How to sow AB1 successfully
- Use in lower-yielding areas with a sunny aspect, facing south or south-southwest
- Avoid planting under overhanging trees, next to tall hedges or on land facing north or east
- Leave access to surrounding crops to allow for management
- Use wide margins and 0.25-0.5 ha blocks to allow insects to move to safety when fields are being sprayed
- Space five 0.5 ha patches evenly within 100 ha to meet the food needs of pollinators
- Sow by broadcasting at a rate of 15 kg/ha when the soil is warm and moist
Sowing requirements
- Establish by sowing a grass-free seed mix containing a minimum of six flower species in blocks or strips between 1st March and 15th September
- At least two flower species must be the following: common knapweed, musk mallow, oxeye daisy, wild carrot, yarrow, with no single species exceeding 50% of the total seed mix by weight
- Regular cutting is allowed in the first 12 months to help establish the sown species
- Manage established nectar flower mix plots as follows:
- – 50% of the plot area cut in rotation each year between 15th May and 15th June – the same area must not be cut in successive years
- The whole plot (100%) cut each year between 15th September and 30th March
- Remove or shred cuttings to prevent weed ingress and the development of patches of dead material
- Do not graze between 15th March and 31st August
- Do not allow a single species to exceed 50% of the total seed mix by weight
- Keep records of all seed invoices, field operations including associated invoices and grazing activity, plus photographs of the mix once established
- Nectar plots must be kept until 31st December in year 5 of the agreement