[Dans]

Ok I I'm gonna ask here as it seems there's a lot of knowledgeable folk about and I don't want to be walking anywhere I shouldn't be.

I live in Scotland and have gone on walks collecting hawberries and sloes at the edges of fields. I always stick to the edge of the field. Am I trespassing? I had thought it to be ok as long as there was no signs up saying private property or have I mis-understood? 

Dans

[nic99]

Yes, I do think the person responsible did not even think about the possibility that someone might actually own and want the fence they used to make a bridge. Perhaps they even thought they were being helpful! Further along the path (I assume it is the same person) they have used various large branches and sticks to do the same thing across other muddy patches. I have no problem with this, and in fact welcome it, as it does make it easier to get across. They obviously could not find any spare branches near the first patch so decided to use the fence instead. 
 
The walkers are good and bad for us. We literally get hundreds of people using the footpaths past our house and across our fields on nice days. Most of the time they do not cause a problem and a big positive - they buy lots of eggs! The biggest problem we have is out of control dogs, I had several chickens and ducks killed and mauled in my garden last year and a neighbour lost one of his chickens to a dog just this week. When one walker was confronted about letting her dog run through our garden and chase our chickens we were told the dog was 'just having a bit of fun'. We may be getting sheep soon. That's going to put the wind up their sails!

[lachlanandmarcus]

Ok I I'm gonna ask here as it seems there's a lot of knowledgeable folk about and I don't want to be walking anywhere I shouldn't be.

I live in Scotland and have gone on walks collecting hawberries and sloes at the edges of fields. I always stick to the edge of the field. Am I trespassing? I had thought it to be ok as long as there was no signs up saying private property or have I mis-understood? 

Dans

The law in Scotland is different from England and in Scotland you are generally allowed to walk fields provided it isn't growing a crop (which includes cereals root crops or grass grown for hay once it is above ankle height). Altho i think if there are good tracks on the land it is more courteous to stick to those personally.


Taking the sloes and haw berries I'm not sure of the legalities, personally if you took them from my fields I would be very miffed as I use mine myself.  politer to check if the owner is planning to use them if you are taking more than a hatful from a property.

[happygolucky]

I just collect from the forests and so do the dogs although its me that gets bitten to bits
 

[Berkshire Boy]

I can't quite understand how anyone can think it is right to go into a farmers field and pick fruits from his hedges without permission.
You wouldn't go into someones back garden and pick apples from their tree, just because you can walk through the field it doesn't mean you own it.

[Dans]

 

To be honest I hadn't thought of it as something the farmer would be wanting. I certainly wouldn't go and the more common fruits but I seem to think of hawberries and sloes differently to cherries and apples. I don't know why, probably due to having not thought it through properly.

The first time we went there it was too late in the season, the first frosts had been and the berries were rotting, I didn't think anything of going the next year and taking a few before the frosts got them.

I've no idea how to check who owns the field. Seeing it in this light I won't return to the field, at least not for foraging and will try and find somewhere else with hawthorn bushes this year.

Dans

[lachlanandmarcus]

It's more a courtesy thing, legally foraging does have some protection (this is historically so that you dont get transported for stealing a blackberry!) so you are allowed to pick bits and bobs for personal use when walking along footpaths and roadsides etc. the issue comes with Scotlands much wider access code which means you are not just picking along the tracks and paths but going into someone's fields and taking stuff from the fields.


In theory that is still allowed if for personal use, however in terms of fairness and courtesy it is much more borderline as it is quite possible the farmer relies on it for their own personal use. Which is why you should ask first and respect the answer if wanting to harvest ' off track' IMO without exception.


NB you aren't allowed in either England or Scotland to pick anything from anyone else's land without permission if it or the end product if it is to be sold in any way.

[Brijjy]

NB you aren't allowed in either England or Scotland to pick anything from anyone else's land without permission if it or the end product if it is to be sold in any way.

So no picking that lovely Welsh Black heifer I saw on a walk the other day then........

[plumseverywhere]

What if a neighbours plum tree over hangs our land significantly and they never come round to ask if they can access it via our fields so all the fruit drops the the ground? are we allowed to snaffle some plums off of it if we are slightly short for our wine recipe during a bad year    ? not that we have, purely hypothetical of course...and I would suggest to my husband that he knock on their door first and ask if I caught him up there with a ladder....

[lachlanandmarcus]

What if a neighbours plum tree over hangs our land significantly and they never come round to ask if they can access it via our fields so all the fruit drops the the ground? are we allowed to snaffle some plums off of it if we are slightly short for our wine recipe during a bad year    ? not that we have, purely hypothetical of course...and I would suggest to my husband that he knock on their door first and ask if I caught him up there with a ladder....

In theory no....although windfalls would go to waste if you didnt use those, and it's amazing how many fall off in even quite a light breeze when someone has switched the vacuum onto reverse and is employing an industrial pressure washer to dislodge the reluctant ones :-DDD.


I think in practice (not legally but in practice) if they don't pick them and they overhang your property then it's fair enough to use them as long as plenty left for the wildlife. After all you would legally unless here's a TPO be able to cut those branches off and return them to the owner which would mean no one would get any.

[Lesley Silvester]

I think that, legally, if you pick them, you should hand them back.  The easiest thing is to ask the land owner if they mind.

In theory no....although windfalls would go to waste if you didnt use those, and it's amazing how many fall off in even quite a light breeze when someone has switched the vacuum onto reverse and is employing an industrial pressure washer to dislodge the reluctant ones :-DDD.

 

Or when you trip and grab a branch to save yourself - several times and a different branch each time.

[plumseverywhere]

I think that, legally, if you pick them, you should hand them back.  The easiest thing is to ask the land owner if they mind.

In theory no....although windfalls would go to waste if you didnt use those, and it's amazing how many fall off in even quite a light breeze when someone has switched the vacuum onto reverse and is employing an industrial pressure washer to dislodge the reluctant ones :-DDD.

 

Or when you trip and grab a branch to save yourself - several times and a different branch each time.

Asking them would make the most sense really. But supposing (hypothetically again of course) said neighbour really couldn't stand us and has in the past fired display quality rocket fireworks at our lambs and goats, could this alter things? 

[Lesley Silvester]

You should still ask them.  Of course, if they don't hear you because they are several miles away that is hardly your fault.

[deepinthewoods]

pick em at night plums

[happygolucky]

Dans, I think its common practice for people to pick fruit from hedges, not sure many big farmers would be going around the hedges collecting the berries but maybe I am wrong and yes, I suppose if that was my field I would be angry as well, but, I mostly go to the forest as I always have the dogs with me.  See, another thing I/we did not think was wrong, well too wrong!