Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:

The message
from "ned" contains these words:

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.

This would seem to be a dog-in-the-manger attitude - I've no doubt that
the whole area would be covered in brambles in no time if it wasn't
managed in some way. Abstracting a (deliberately) rooted scion before it
and its fellows can be cut back is not the same as removing the parent.

No-one is harmed. However, I would suggest that the administrators are
approached, and without mentioning the enormous size of the fruit, get
permission to root some ends and remove them.

Why not tell them why you want it? They can keep a few cuttings too and
maybe sales will help fund the upkeep of the reserve. Most reserves
struggle for funds even at the best of times - a new blackberry cultivar
might be a nice little earner. Provided the berries taste OK as well as
being huge.

Regards,
Martin Brown