Photo of the month

by Martin Pailthorpe

A bird’s eye view of a golden summer harvest, as farmer Jon Becklake brings in the wheat read for thatching. Photographer and filmmaker Martin Pailthorpe from King’s Nympton captured this timeless scene using a drone camera for our September photo of the month.

Looking down from on high helps us see the symmetry and precision as the bales of wheat fly off his vintage tractor and baler, and are then stacked in ‘stooks’ by hand by a team of farm workers on this field alongside the George Nympton to South Molton road.

Martin told Molton Monthly, “I am starting a project to film interviews with people who grew up in King’s Nympton and surrounding area in the 1960s and before, as the way of life they knew is disappearing fast! One interviewee, Amy Bowden - nee Luxton, remembers driving the

tractor while harvesting like this - her dad was riding the harvester giving hand signals to keep her cutting straight rows. She was just 11 years old!”

Whether it’s rural life like this, nature, sports, special events, wildlife, a local character or something else - please keep emailing us your pictures. We usually only feature one each month in the magazine, but show more on our Instagram and Facebook pages: @MoltonMonthly