When I was young I did. There is a bird refuge in an old army training ground a few miles from here. Because it was an army base it has roads and I could ride my bike with big baskets and tubs from one black berry patch to the next. (And when I was really little I sold some Black Berry Jam to the governor -- made from blackberries in our alley.) Now I think the bushes are mostly cut down in the refuge -- native animals do not make use of them. Blackberries are a terrible weed here. They could totally overrun my back yard in two years -- maybe even in one. Someone brought my parents a bowl of black berries they picked somewhere this year so definitely people do still pick them.Liis wrote: The WTE nest area is mostly nature protection lands, it seems. But shooting sounds carry very far around waters.
Another, thorny and tangled matter: Blackberries. This particular variety, R. nessensis, is evidently named for Loch Ness, of Nessie the Lake Monster fame. Doctoral theses have been written on the species, subspecies, varieties and relationships of wild blackberries, let alone the cultured - and not seldom garden escape - varieties.
It is THE English wild fruit for me. Do people still go out picking blackberries in UK? US?
(turned the TV on yesterday, British cooking programme, first thing shown blackberries and blackberry jelly).
I am cutting back my hedge but decided to wait on one section until the berries growing in it are harvest-able. I ate one, it looked black but it was sour! In a week or so I will have enough berries for some kind of treat.