The hedgerow harvest is in full swing. Sloes, hazelnuts, hawthorn berries, rose hips and blackberries adorn the jumble of bushes and small trees that make up the rich biodiversity of our native hedgerows.
Evolution has, of course, shaped the attractiveness of the fruit to ensure it is eaten by animals and birds, the seeds passing through the digestive tract to be dispersed to new locations, often with a little starter pack of natural fertilizer.
There is no doubt which hedgerow fruit is most attractive to the human animal. Blackberries are delicious, raw or cooked, and there is the additional pleasure of picking them - searching along the hedges for little gleams of purple-black and getting excited when one finds a particularly good bush full of plump berries.
I'm afraid we didn't help with the seed dispersal, but we had a wonderful dinner.
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