Sunflowers planted by Gablestock Ltd in Long Bennington are catching the eye

Fields of sunflowers in bloom are catching the eye of passers-by.

A family-owned feed mill and farm has planted two fields of the bright yellow flowers that will eventually be used as bird feed.

Gablestock Ltd specialises in the production of coarse and seed mixtures for livestock, birds, equines and pets.

This year, the owners decided to plant sunflowers over two fields, on 30 acres of land combined in Long Bennington.

“Over the past 30 years we bought a lot of sunflower seeds from the south of France or Bulgaria for our bird food,” said one of the owners, John Fearn.

“It is really nice to grow it yourself and see the final product.”

The seeds planted at Gablestock Ltd are a Spanish variety of black sunflower seeds.

The plants were planted in May and are now in fill bloom.

Over the next few weeks the sunflowers will be allowed to die naturally and once they are dry, will be harvested.

The company has grown sunflowers before, which were successful so they decided to give it another go this year.

It also grows millets and canary seeds.

At least 90% of what is grown in the farm goes into making animal feed.

The family-owned business has been open for about 30 years and is accredited to the Universal Feed Assurance Scheme and the Red Tractor Farm Assurance.