How can they ban us from picking BLACKBERRIES? Officials claim it will harm the environment on Common

Blackberry picking has been banned by a council which says it poses a risk to the environment.

Regular picker Alan Gibson, 47, who organises 'foraging picnics', was told by Southampton Council that picking any of nature's fruits on Southampton Common is not permitted. 


Mr Gibson, who writes a blog on wild fruit picking, had been planning a foraging picnic on the common as part of an autumn harvest festival event.

But staff at the council's Hawthorns Wildlife Centre told him that blackberry picking was banned because the common was a Site of Special Scientific Interest. home to a population of endangered great crested newts.  Full Story

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