Give the poppies a rest, selfie-hunters told

THE National Trust has warned sightseers not to trample poppy fields while searching for the perfect selfie.

Fields between Holywell Bay and Crantock beach, on the north Cornwall coast, burst into a sea of red every year in the early summer months, prompting visitors to site to take pictures to post on social media.

However, the National Trust has said that unprecedented numbers are arriving to the idyllic spot for selfies.

The surge in interest has prompted the conservation charity to warn people to stick to footpaths and not walk among the flowers.

A National Trust spokesman said: “We appreciate there can be the urge to explore, photograph and to take selfies amongst the poppies, which are the real showstopper.

“But there are a whole host of other, more delicate and rare flowers in there as well.

“So to avoid damaging the flowers for future years we ask visitors to please stay on the various footpaths that cross the headland and to remember ‘flowers don’t grow where feet go’.”

The site, near the popular seaside town of Newquay, is managed as a nature reserve and is one of the only sites in Britain that is not commercially farmed.

‘We appreciate the urge to explore and to take selfies amongst the poppies, which are the real showstopper’

The National Trust said that it served as a “real reminder of traditional non-intensive farming methods of the past, which worked in harmony with nature”.

The spokesman added that the section of coastland was a “much-needed” haven for some of the most endangered wild flowers in the country and hoped that the “wow-factor” would be allowed to continue.