Foraging Law

[Deaconbrau]

Hi All,
Another silly question.
Took the family blackberry picking on a whim today. (Pretty successful and my lad loved it!) Yet we had to leave most of the good stuff behind behind protruding brambles.
We have resolved to return again tomorrow armed with long sleeves, walking sticks, a larger tin and succateurs to remove the offending bramble protrusions and get to the treasure behind.
I just wanted to check that I won't be breaking any laws if I trim any offending brambles.
Can you help put my mind at rest?

 

[Mark1964]

depends if someone owns the plants and are cultivating them. If they are on wasteland then i cant see a problem

 

[Deaconbrau]

Its just the local common land. There are plently of brambles where the fences of private property back onto it.

 

[Mark1964]

dont suppose it will matter if you hack a few then :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

I think the law states that you can take fruit flowers or foliage but you can't disturb the root, so cutting them back would unlikely be illegal.

 

[oogaboogachief]

Just put on your insulated overalls and wade right out into them. pick and trample and repeat. It won't hurt anything. In fact it will do the patch some good if they are wild. The more thorns there are the more berries you will get. Long sleeve heavy work shirt and light leather gloves will help a lot. Pick at first light so the hot won't get to you. Mike

 

[narmour]

Don't forget that when they cut the hedgerows by roads they hack off large pieces of bramble and other plants. There can't be one law for one piece of common land and another for another.

 

[The Goatreich]

My Dad has always told me to leave some for the birds. I'm not sure how effective leaving some may be, but I like the sentiment. After all, that's why the plant produces the fruit in the first place.

 

[narmour]

My Dad has always told me to leave some for the birds. I'm not sure how effective leaving some may be, but I like the sentiment. After all, that's why the plant produces the fruit in the first place.

I agree totally with this, we have supermarkets so we don't don't go hungry if there is no berries. The birds are much smaller and can get to the ones which are inaccesible though.

 

[Moley]

I saw a bit of ‘Countryfile’ or some other country-type programme last weekend and there was a bit about making Cowslip wine to some rather old recipe, possibly by Mrs. Beaton.

The method seemed doomed to failure, it was stirred in a crock bowl with a wooden spoon before the whole lot was tipped into a DJ, only half filling it, and there was absolutely no mention of hygiene. Did anybody else see it?

Anyway, they found some cowslips but said that “these are wild flowers so we can't (or aren't allowed to) pick them”, so they went off to some farm which grows them for pharmaceuticals or cosmetics.


So what's all that about then? I wouldn't have thought cowslips were a protected species.

 

[PD]

Its an offence to damage or pick any wildflower and that includes digging the root up or even the little girl who picks bluebells for her mother. ( I don't think theres ever been a prosecution for that though.
I use to do a lot of nature photography and I once found a rare bee orchid growing on some waste land near my home. out of sight, but I foolishly mentioned it to someone and 2 days later the plant had been dug up.
It takes years for plants to get established in an area and they can well do without folks removing them.
Fruits of plants i.e. berries are not covered by the law ( although aspects of tresspass etc may be invoked ) and nobody would begrudge elderberry/blackberry picking, its part of the countryside way of living. However getting a JCB and removing a load of brambles might cause some concerns.

Heres the bee orchid I photographed.

sadly no longer growing wild in my area

 

[fermentall]

Cowslips along with many other wild flowers are now on the protected list as they are in danger of extinction. :shock:

 

[Moley]

It's an offence to damage or pick any wildflower and that includes digging the root up ...(snip)...
Fruits of plants i.e. berries are not covered by the law ( although aspects of trespass etc may be invoked )

Great post from someone who seems to know what they are talking about and isn't just guessing :thumb:

Nice photo too, I've dabbled but I'm neither a Bellamy or an Angel.

Thanks also to fermentall.


So what about dandelions and nettles? Them ain't flowers, them's weeds.

 

[fermentall]

Hi, Ther are lots of protected flowers in the UK & people can face a fine of up to 5k if prosecuted.
Most if not all wild orchids are protected as well as Bluebells,Snowdrops,Cowslips etc & the way i like to go about my
foraging in the coutryside is to adopt the attitude of my late Father which was( Leave nothing but footprints & take nothing but photographs) apart from my wine making supplies of berries etc of course : Ken.
Happy Foraging.

 

[fermentall]

Hi Moley, here's an interesting one,in Greece on an island i visit most years they sell Dandelion seeds & cultivate them to eat & the local people i know can't believe that we are inundated with them here & that i make wine with them. : Ken.

 

[oogaboogachief]

I believe the plants actually produce the berry for seed to reproduce. Birds eating them is just a plus as it distributes the seeds wherever the bird leaves them. Mike

 

[Moley]

Hi Moley, here's an interesting one, in Greece on an island i visit most years they sell Dandelion seeds & cultivate them to eat

The leaves are good in salads. That rather surprised me when I first came across it on an exchange visit with a French penfriend, longer ago than I would care to calculate.

 

[graysalchemy]

They are very bitter the leaves i believe but quite sweet if you live on South Georgia (utterly useless piece of information that I picked up from a book).

 

[PD]

the white " milk " that oozes from the stems of dandelions is a strong diuretic, so much so one of the old country names for dandelions is pissabed.

Your dog knows this instinctively and is why they will eat some when out and about in the fields. To help clear their kidneys and bladder.
To many before bed time is not recommended for dogs ! or humans.

 

[Kirk]

It is the dandelion petals that are used in recipe's.

Concerning cutting back the brambles remember that bramble fruit on old wood, so if you cut this years growth they will not be there next year to produce fruit.

I am assuming that it is the fresh new growth that you are considering cutting back to get to the fruit on the older canes.