In message ,
Roger Tonkin writes

I usually regard these as autumn fruits, picking
September/October, but this year some are ready now. I've been
picking a few off various bushes in the fields for a couple of
weeks now. There are still bushed just developing fruits and
even some flowers. Has anyone else noticed this or is it
peculiar to this area this year?

Yes, mine are early but only a few here and there (Central Southern
England and Normandy) . However I remember from childhood holidays about
seventy years ago that blackberries were ripe in the West Country from
about the second week of August.

This year I noticed that some of my grapes growing against a wall were
beginning to ripen in the last week of July which is very early. They
normally begin to ripen in the last week of August. Plums also are much
earlier.

David

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David Rance writing from Le Mesnil Villement, Calvados, France