IT LOOKS more like a scene from the south of France, but a field of sunflowers has sprung up in full bloom in Orkney.
Farmer Richard Herdman scattered sunflower seeds over 2.5 acres on his dairy farm on the west Mainland.
Months later, the helianthus plants, famed for their tall flowering heads that track the sun's movement, poked above the scrub and grew to abou
t 5ft tall.
Mr Herdman said: "We put a couple of kilos of sunflower seeds in with the unharvested crop seeds as part of a rural stewardship scheme project.
"I was convinced the sunflower plants would grow to the height of the rest of the stuff, about 3ft, because they would have shelter. I never imagined they would flower on the scale they have. I think the weather has allowed this to happen, because we've had a good back end to the summer."
Mr Herdman planted a mix of seed-bearing plants in April to be left unharvested to provide winter food for migrating birds.
The local seed merchant, Richard Shearer, said: "The farmer asked me to add in sunflower seeds to lighten things up a wee bit.
It is amazing how well they've done."
Dr Richard Dixon, the director of WWF Scotland, said: "This is certainly one of those strong signals that things are changing and people are starting to think differently about what they can plant."
The full article contains 243 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
