Manage ponds

What you must do

You must manage the pond in a way that can reasonably be expected to achieve this action’s aim, including: controlling scrub around the pond edge by lightly cutting it or grazing it with livestock to encourage a range of semi-aquatic vegetation to develop trying to avoid livestock trampling and poaching the pond edge which can make the water turbid (cloudy) You must not: deepen or change the pond’s original profile, including filling it in artificially introduce plants or animals to the pond, including fish or waterfowl allow supplementary feeding of fish feed waterfowl – if there’s public access to the pond, try to discourage wildfowl feeding add dyes to the water

When to do it

You must do this action from its start date, throughout each year of its 3-year duration.

Evidence to keep

You must keep evidence to show what you’ve done to complete this action, such as: pond management operations at a land parcel level and associated invoices photographs and other documentation If it’s not clear that you’ve done this action in a way that could reasonably be expected to achieve its aim, we may ask for this evidence. You must supply the evidence if we ask for it.

SFI26 actions v2.0, updated 7 July 2026 — verified 1 Aug 2026. Open official guidance