Parents have been encouraging children to pick sunflowers in the beautiful fields full of them at Rhossili Bay.
Fields at the tip of Gower have been planted with 40,000 of the bright, towering flowers, which are once again in full bloom.
The National Trust planted the sunflowers a second time following their huge popularity last year.
And with Worm’s Head as a backdrop, the flowers on what is known as the Vile walk have proved a massive draw with visitors , many keen to capture them in photographs.
But this year, concerns have been raised that people have been picking the plants to take home as souvenirs - although flower heads have also been spotted dumped on the floor.
The situation has sparked an appeal from the National Trust for people not to damage the plants.
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One visitor said: “I visited the absolutely amazing sunflower fields down at Rhossili Bay and it was incredible. I smiled the whole way round.
“However, I was so disappointed to see people pulling sunflowers from the ground to take home, both children and adults.
“What was even worse was to hear parents saying to their kids to go and pick them the best sunflower.
“If every person who visited the fields picked one, they would soon be gone.”
The National Trust said changes in the way it farmed its land at Rhossili, by focusing on wildlife-friendly farming, and with the growing of sunflowers and arable crops alongside hay meadows and lavender, had resulted in a dramatic increase in populations of birds, bees and butterflies.
The sunflowers will be at their best this month and throughout August, before being harvested and turned into wild bird seed in October.
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The Trust urged visitors to think twice before picking any of the plants and to leave them for the birds and the bees.
Mark Hipkin, Gower National Trust ranger, said: “Whilst people might think that picking one or two won’t make much difference, if the hundreds of visitors who come each day did the same, we’d not only lose the blanket of sunflowers which so many people want to come and see, there’d be no crop left for the birds and bees or to harvest to produce the wild bird seed mix.”
A view of last year's crop of sunflowers:
It also urged people to use the network of paths provided which winded inbetween the fields, following suggestions some people were trampling the sunflowers to try and reach a good spot for a picture.
"We encourage visitors to take photographs, to respect the area and make use of the designated footpaths to protect the crops for the birds and the bees," added a Trust spokesman.
The Trust holds sunflower walks on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in August. More details can be found here .
