Farmer sows a stunning sea of sunflowers – by mistake

Some of the sea of sunflowers at Pudding Norton Farm near Fakenham (Image: Archant)

Robert Hambidge planned to plant a mixture of seed-bearing flowers in a strip alongside his cropped fields as a food source for wild birds on the farm at Pudding Norton, near Fakenham.

"But when I opened the bag I thought it looked a little light on sunflower seeds, so I purchased a whole bag of sunflower seeds and added them in," he said. "I have probably overdone it by a factor of 100 by the look of it - but they look really striking."

Mr Hambidge, a former mayor of Dereham, said part of the reason he wanted to bolster the golden yellow colour in his field margins was to show how public money was being spent on ecological measures through the farm's Countryside Stewardship scheme.

"I am next to the main road and what I do is quite visible to the public, so I was hoping that people will see these yellow strips and see what they are getting for their money," he said. "Hopefully they will see they are getting good value.

Some of the sea of sunflowers at Pudding Norton Farm near Fakenham (Image: Archant)

"If you look at it there is all manner of seed-bearing plants in there for the birds during the winter. And the number of bees is amazing - there is a bee on every sunflower."