PLANT

BRAMBLE Here’s a first for this column: a wildlife target that I recommend eating! The first week of September is prime time for picking blackberries. This – lest you forget in the craving for fructose – is the fruit of the Bramble, whose white or pink flowers nourish many a butterfly and hoverfly in summer. Common in scrub and along hedgerows, inside woodland and amid wasteland, this thornystemmed scrambler is a familiar feature on late summer walks. Don’t feel too guilty about depriving Red Admirals or Blackcaps by plucking the ripest fruits; there’s plenty to go round.