biodiverseed:greedygardener:I’ve had a very interesting conversation with biodiverseed over the las
biodiverseed:greedygardener:I’ve had a very interesting conversation with biodiverseed over the last couple of days since I posted about sea buckthorn which I spotted growing on the Gower peninsula in South Wales. The berries are very difficult to pick by hand due to their habit of growing very close to the stem protected by huge thorns, so commercial foragers cut thickly laden stems and freeze them whole, shaking the berries off when frozen. Although I knew this trick, I didn’t mention it my post because I didn’t want to encourage too many people to try and gather them. Whilst buckthorn itself isn’t a particularly rare plant, the places where it grows naturally are often very fragile habitats. These photos were taken on Rhossili bay, a wild sweep of sand on the far west of the Gower, with the wind sculpted cliffs and tidal island of Worms Head at its southern end and backed by dunes to the north, which is where I saw the buckthorn. The beach is very popular with holidaymakers and surfers, especially due to its close proximity to the city of Swansea. Despite efforts to create designated paths, numerous short cuts are often taken through the dunes with the result that the they are becoming very eroded in places. Sand dunes like this are habitats for all kinds of rare plants, insects and reptiles and it doesn’t take many people trampling through the dunes to begin to break up the delicate network of roots that hold them in place.However, biodiverseed pointed out that buckthorn is often planted on civil engineering projects, where it can become invasive. In Denmark where she is based, it’s planted along coastal defences where it grows like wildfire. In the UK I’ve also seen it planted as a means of stabilising loose ground, alongside embankments on new roads and on a reclaimed open cast mine, for example. In these instances, the bushes multiply rapidly, crowding out other species. Therefore, if you see sea buckthorn growing somewhere like this and it’s a place with public access, it’s fine to cut stems, so long as you only take enough for your own personal use. The Gower is designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has no less than eleven nature reserves on it. It has a range of habitats along the coast, from the cliffs at Oxwich, the dunes at Rhossili and the salt marshes and mud flats of Penclawdd. In just a couple of days, we saw seals, numerous sea and wading birds and many rare plants. The area is also famed for shell fish including cockles, mussels and oysters. There’s a wealth of edible delights that can be found along the shoreline and luckily, much of it is owned by the National Trust so has open access. Whilst I firmly believe we all have the right to gather wild food, I also believe we have the responsibility to gather it sensibly and sustainably. These are some truly gorgeous photos, and great observations as well. Foraging is always a touchy topic, because of the tension between people’s right to public food, and the preservation of delicate habitats. I believe these things are always best assessed on a case-by-case basis, as no two biomes are alike!I read an interesting article on this once called ‘the forager’s dilemma,’ which gets into some of the tensions between class politics, foodie culture, and ecology, but there is definitely a tonne of great writing on the subject to consider. In any case, it’s always important to consider one’s impact on the world while treading through it; the best way to do that is to never stop learning, reading, talking, and questioning. -- source link
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