Country diary: There's a bounty of blackberries out there - 350 species of them | Sarah Lambert

Swaddywell, Cambridgeshire: This common plant is surprisingly varied. Late in the season, I venture out to pick what I can A warm autumn afternoon: blue sky scattered with cumulus, three red kites wheeling above. I've come to gather blackberries - an age-old pursuit, gentle in rhythm, quietly absorbing.At the scrub's edge, I meet a formidable bramble. Its stems are red, grooved, thicker than my thumb, and arch outwards for 10 metres or more with fearsome spines. This is giant blackberry, introduced from eastern Europe for its large, plentiful berries, though not today - its fruit have gone over already. An aggressive coloniser, it sprawls into dense, impassable thickets, seemingly intent on swallowing whole patches of land. Continue reading...