Delrosa

The rosehips are plentiful this year

and I'd love to make rosehip syrup

to see if it would have a Proustian effect,

(we were given it by the teaspoon in winter to ward off colds)

but I would hear a nagging voice saying,

'If we all thought it was OK to take just a few,

there'd be none left for others/the birds to enjoy.'

The River Cottage recipe calls for 1 kg

which isn't a few. 

I'd be stripping the bush clean.

I felt the same way about the little patch of wild garlic 
I found in spring.

Hugh would have had me gathering it wantonly
for a wild garlic risotto,

but in the crowded woods

I felt self-conscious taking just one flower.

Blackberries are fair game.

But proper foraging needs proper empty countryside.

We townies just have to play pretend.

Edited to add this wood pigeon gorging on elderberries
while its beautiful New Zealand cousin, the kereru
was feeding on the nikau palm 
next to Marilyn's caravan.