Wild Bird Cover (WBC) is one of the actions undertaken by participants in each of the three tranches of the Green Low carbon Agri-environment Scheme (GLAS). The Terms and Conditions of each tranche of the Scheme state that actions whether on owned, leased or rented land must be delivered for the entire period of the contract’ subject to certain provisions.
The GLAS contractual period for GLAS 3 participants ends on 31st December 2021, while the contractual period for those participants in GLAS 1 and GLAS 2 who extended their contracts now also ends on that date. Those participants who currently avail of the WBC action are accordingly required to continue to undertake the specified tasks associated with the action until end December 2021.
It should, however, be noted that the 10th amendment to the Rural Development Programme, which was recently approved by the EU Commission, provides for the possibility for the extension of the GLAS scheme in 2022. As with all relevant Rural Development schemes, consideration of an extension will be subject to the availability of national funding through the annual budget process in the autumn. If any changes are made to the terms and conditions of a scheme, the Department will notify the participants accordingly.