Sunday was a lovely day.
I did some work in the morning and then listened to Desert Island Discs as I set off to go blackberrying.
The blackberries were sweet and easy to pick. A Speckled Wood accompanied me along the hedgerow for a while – we both enjoyed the sunshine.
A party of Long-tailed Tits squeaked and purred in the distance and then pinged past me as I concentrated on the blackberries.
I love blackberrying. Probably for several reasons. It’s free food; it’s easy; it’s quick; blackberries taste nice; it’s traditional; I have picked blackberries every year of my life as far back as I can remember, deep into childhood.
Have you gone blackberrying this year?
There was a Buzzard calling high overhead as I stowed away the blackberries and turned the car around.
As I drove to the home of Carry Akroyd I saw four species of raptor. It was one of those days when looking up was a good idea. There seemed to be Buzzards and Red Kites everywhere that one troubled to look. A Kestrel hovered over a roadside verge.
A circling raptor looked too small and not quite right for a Buzzard and I stopped to have a better look, but as I did it dived down, feet first (a bit like an Osprey) for something like a hundred feet and disappeared behind the tall hedge and over what turned out to be a field of long stubble. I couldn’t see it, and then a female Sparrowhawk started to circle upwards. That must have been the stooping, claws-out raptor I had seen moments earlier but I don’t recall seeing a Sparrowhawk behave quite like that ever before.
At Carry’s, it was an ‘Open Studio’ weekend, I had a chat with her and admired her new studio, and her artwork, and Gordon’s fine chairs, bought some calendars and cards and headed home.
I ate corn on the cob in the suntrap in the garden before watching some rugby on TV.
At half time I picked apples from the garden to go with the blackberries. A beautiful Red Admiral was on the ivy and I stopped and stood for a while to enjoy it.
It was a good day: I’d felt the sun on my face; I’d been in the countryside; I’d met some friends; I’d seen some wildlife; I’d got some work done; I’d relaxed; I’d had some nice food. A sunny Sunday.
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Hi Mark,
In Scotland we call it “brambling” or “bramblin’ ” or near me in Lockerbie “brumlin’ ” because we’re gathering “brumles”
In fact even my smart phone is called my “brumle”
Whatever we call them they are indeed delicious and free!
Bramble jelly with proper butter on crusty brown bread might not get a Michelin star but it would take some beating.
ronnie – thanks – happy brumlin!
Yes have been blackberrying and have about twenty five pounds in freezer,really relaxing job you think of nothing else while picking them,
Dennis – good for you! Actually I find my mind wandering on to all sorts of things – quite useful and therapeutic.
I pick a lot of blackberries at this time of year for the same reasons that Mark does. Where I pick them I hear woodlarks singing whilst I pick. We eat lots of blackberry and apple puddings. But I always put a box of blackberries in the freezer and we eat them hot with chocolate ice cream as part of our Christmas dinner. Maybe not a common choice but delicious and loved by our family. By the way, here in Sussex the alleyways-between-the-houses are called twittens.
Helen – nice comment: twittens, woodlarks and blackberries. What a nice mixture.
I have a big bag of Otmoor blackberries in the freezer waiting for the crab apples to ripen. I’m going to try making bramble and crab apple jelly this year.
Lyn – sounds good. I saw a crab apple tree on Sunday – it was shedding apples at the time.