On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 10:47:10 +0100, Martin Brown
wrote:

Nick Maclaren wrote:

In article , ned wrote:

Hey, it is a NATURE reserve. Not the local branch of Tesco.
The brambles and blackberries are there for the benefit of the
wildlife, not to supplement anyone's shopping list.

You clearly have a minimal understanding of either ecology or botany,
which puts you on a par with the goons who make the laws in the UK.

Almost all ecologies in the UK were created by human intervention,
and none are untouched by it. What the original poster proposed will
do no harm. The limit on blackberry's spread in the UK is space
(a.k.a. competition) and not the availability of shoots to tip-in.

If it is a decent cultivar with good fruit (and preferably not too
vicious thorns) then the nature reserve should propogate it for sale!
The best way to ensure a plants survival is to give a cutting away.

It isn't like blackberries and brambles are endangered species - and
they can be pernicious weeds likely to be ripped out by woodland
management even in a nature reserve if they get in the way.

Good grief, yes - I have to keep my bushes in check with a lawnmower,
and more than once I've pulled out a rooted cutting from a pile of old
grass clippings.

A few years ago I recall seeing a documentary which featured a
time-lapse shot of brambles growing in a copse..looked a lot like
something that might have come from the scriptwriters at Dr.Who.

Regards,



--
Stephen Howard - Woodwind repairs & period restorations
www.shwoodwind.co.uk
Emails to: showard{whoisat}shwoodwind{dot}co{dot}uk