Many of us who have foraged for a very long time will have come across people out in the woods or fields who are curious about what we're doing - sometimes they just want to know, sometimes (for various reasons) they want to stop us. I had a rather hostile reaction recently, which has prompted this. I think its worth sharing a few thoughts on how to handle each kind of challenge. Sometimes people will just want a chat, sometimes they're worried, sometimes they're hostile - I've divided these events into their most common types, given some thoughts on how I handle each...
Scenario 1: They're curious
This is the best one. If they want to know what you're doing, or what you're picking, tell them. Its not very likely that they'll come back and take all the goodies themselves, but if they do get in to foraging thats another voice to speak up in defence of our green spaces. Be enthusiastic and answer their questions - and yes, if there's a lookalike for something you're picking that'll do them harm, tell them - thats all part of foraging. Be happy to share knowledge and enthusiasm for what is, we all know, a kick ass hobby.
I'd say that this kind of encounter is getting ever more common - as the population has got a bit more foody, a bit more food aware, there's ever more of this. And in the days after Hugh FW or someone has been on the tellybox picking mushrooms its almost a certainty that someone will ask me about any mushrooms I'm basketing. I always welcome this.
Scenario 2: They're worried for you
The older I get, the less this happens. At one time I often had people wander up to me in the woods, worried for my welfare. "Are you sure they're safe" Yes, they're cherries. "How do you know they're cherries?" They're on a cherry tree. "How do you know its a cherry tree?" Well it covered in cherries. And as for mushrooms, I got to a point in my late teens when I'd wait for people not to be around before picking any, the level of concern shown was so annoying.
This is certainly more likely if you're picking fungi than anything else - and you should take this at face value, its most likely they're genuinely concerned for your health. Be kind, reassure them, and thank them for their concern. If you get this a lot (as I used to) then it may be some comfort that as you get older people assume, from the look of you, that you know what you're doing. I've rarely hear of this kind of interaction being worse than a few concerned words - when you're grown up!
Scenario 3: They're angry that you're picking something wild
This is a baffling one but I've had it several times. There's a lot of free food out there which is fair game. The Wildlife and Countryside Act covers most of what you need to be aware of legally, but its ambiguous (and I think intentionally so). Basically if its growing wild, in a space you're allowed to be, you can harvest part of the plant/fungus (be it greens, fruit or mushrooms) providing you don't wreck it or dig up the root (unless its a rare species with specific legal protection) - so you can pick some cow parsley leaves and flowers but you can't dig up orchid roots for salep. And yeah, a few parasol mushrooms in a field full of grass where there's a path not so very far from them, thats not a stretch of the law, but bundling over a fence to collect pink gilled grisettes among freshly sown winter wheat is something a farmer will have a legitimate problem with. Likewise there are many 'abandoned' urban and suburban trees, fruit trees planted by council workers and the like, and wildlings grown from fruit seed thrown away, all over the UK - and they're generally considered ok to pick from. But 'wild' is rather an ambiguous term here, and I've always thought that might have been intentional in the law. Is a self seeded apple tree 'wild'? I'd say yes. Is it still wild if it has been watered, pruned and tended? I'd say probably not. Its a judgement call.
Once in a while someone will come at you with needless hostility to picking wild food. You're damaging the tree, they'll say, or you're stealing the mushrooms out of the park, they'll tell you. Stay calm, tell them that what you're doing is fine, its legal, and if they don't back down you can either walk away and come back later, or if you think they're going to persist in being a problem tell them you'll be happy to wait for the Police to come and settle this, if they want to call them. Usually they go off in a huff quite quickly, but not always, so I usually favour walking off and coming back again after a few minutes when they're gone. There's one lady lives not far from me goes ballistic if she sees me eyeing up cherries in the trees - I know what her car looks like near her flat, and wait for it to be gone.
Scenario 4: They think you're doing something untoward!
Yes, some people will see you picking something and decide that this is suspicious so they'll investigate. Ignore them and let them see what you're doing, and if they're still giving you the evils then talk to them and see if they want you to explain. Sometimes just doing something different is enough to arouse suspicion, and you are doing something different when you're out foraging.
Years ago I was picking blewits by the railings of a park in Nottingham, and a copper came up on the outside and wanted to know why I had a knife in my hand. I showed him the mushrooms, his response was "Are they blueys? My mum used to cook me blueys..." and he proceded to relate the traditional East Midlans way of eating blewits. After a cordial chat he was off on his way with pockets full of soggy mushrooms (which I was happy to share) and I was still cutting the base of more mushrooms with a pocket knife. Another time a gaggle of mothers turned up in a park I was gathering parasol mushrooms in, and to their eye I was a strange man skulking in the undergrowth - until I waved a big mushroom and told them thats what I was doing. Somtimes people just don't get it - and a little chat won't hurt.
Scenario 5: They (unreasonably) want you off their patch
Where I grew up the old coal carrying railway lines had become footpaths and bridleways, and they were great for picking blackberries, raspberries, elderberries, and occasionally plums, apples and other fruit from alongside. So I often went along there for good hauls- and I learned quite quickly who (with gardens bordering the old lines) was defensive. People get very clingy to the trees and shrubs right by their gardens.
As for how to handle this, I'd say 'it depends'. I've been chased off picking blackberries, and frankly thats fine - there are plenty more blackberries. But if its a wildling plum in such a space which someone feels they've more right to than you then hear them out and decide whether or not its worth the grief - it often isn't. Maybe I'm just stubborn, but if they run towards me apoplectic that I'm stealing 'their' fruit I'll ignore them, whereas if they ask me to leave that because its past the bottom of their garden then yeah, I'm way more likely to do so. Once in a while someone is particularly naughty and will guerilla plant fruit trees in a space that isn't theirs - they're rather more invested in the crop of course. What they're doing may or may not be illegal (depending on where it is), but its certainly cheeky - don't feel under any moral constraint in having a cheeky little share yourself.
Usually this all comes down to whether you think its worth the aggro - normally it isn't, but if you feel the person is having a go at you and want to stand your ground because its the right thing to do to confront bullies, thats fine. You do that.
Scenario 6: They (reasonably) want you off their patch
This is, in my experience, the rarest interaction. I've had this once - but I've talked to other foragers who've had similar experiences.
Land ownership and utilisation are not always well labelled. You can find an apple tree in a hedge that you think has been long abandoned, but it still might belong to someone - and while the poorly defined 'wild' in the Countryside Act is some defence, its not ok to swipe someones stuff if you find out thats what you're doing. Verges by roadsides adopted for management by local authorities are normally managed by the local transport authority, and what you find growing there is (within the legal framework of what and how you can forage) fair game. But thats not universal, and you can find yourself on the wrong end of someone who's got a valid point that you've crossed a line.
If that happens, stop picking and offer them whatever you've picked back - if you know it already has a legal owner, you really do have to offer to give it back. If they refuse, of course, keep it. Don't aggravate them, but at the same time you're not obligated to take abuse from them for having made an understandable mistake. But if when you're challenged it transpires you've made a mistake and the person challenging you is being reasonable then accept it, apologise and move on.
There's a damson tree I've regularly ridden past on a road verge for years, and every year the fruit rots on the ground (making quite a mess of the pavement I'll add). This year I went and picked about a pound of damsons, enough for a small crumble, and a guy came up to me and gave me a right telling off. Among his points were 'people like you' and 'you're a Northerner aren't you?' (which appeared to be his clinching point - yes, he was the kind of chap for whom his own disdain is enough to prove a point). I was at the wrong end of a shouted, expletive laden rant delivered right into my face. Apparently the residents association owns that verge and while he doesn't want the fruit thats not the point, there's a principle (which I think means he wants it to rot on the ground). How precisely one is meant to ascertain that ownership I don't know, but I also don't care - I don't have to put up with such threatening behaviour for any reason, his frightening response was massively out of proportion to what he'd perceived I'd done wrong. I'd actually got my phone out and was dialing the Police when this chap backed down - which was a relief.
When you're faced with loud, moral indignation or threats like that, its usually best to let them have their little rant and walk away. You don't need the aggro. You can't get 'em all right, nor should you feel bad about getting ones like this wrong. But if they're reasonable about it and they're genuinely correcting you, of course the right thing to do is be decent in return.
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