A few years ago some friends from Australia were visiting and they commented on a basket of blackberries on the kitchen table as back home the humble bramble is prohibited as it creates great snake dens .
The bramble is the quintessential English thicket. It spreads quickly creating shelter and food for a wide variety of wildlife – many a sapling has been given a chance as it keeps browsing animals away. Most insect life is seen through the blossom and fruiting season and ground nesting birds are kept safe in the tangle of stems from predation.
In fact it is a typical example of the interdependence of a wide variety of plant, insect and animal life found in inaccessible parts of fields.
Wild blackberries are an old fashioned fruit full of minerals, vitamins, anti- oxidants with anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial benefits for human health but their razor sharp thorns can leave arms and legs raw if you are not careful.