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Todays tandem ride was slightly spoilt at the end.
Picure the scene: We leave the local canal and heading home up a well used lane. At the start of the lane there's a footpath.
Over the wall I spot some children picking daffodils in the steep field next to the footpath and politely ask would they mind not picking the flowers as they are for everyone to enjoy. These children haven't just picked a few, they have a whole armful each.
An adult voice a good few metres away tells me to 'f' off.
I get off the tandem and walk over to her, saying that's not a good thing for young children to hear!
Woman: I've lived here 38 years, all me life and those flowers are wild.
Me: It would be better if you left them for everyone to enjoy.
Woman: Get back on your bloody bike.
Me: I don't think you're setting a good example to your children speaking like this.
Woman, gets up and storms off and shouts to me 'gerrra life'.
Me: Got one thanks.
Yes, as a small child I too picked wild flowers, however my grandfather explained that it's against the country code and to leave them for everyone to enjoy.
Those daffodils have gone now for another year and will probably only last a couple of days in water at home, whereas if left they'll be there for all to enjoy for a couple of weeks.
Death is too good for some people. String the buggers up.
gets up and storms off and shouts to me 'gerrra life'.
Was it Cilla Black?
I've lived here 38 years, all me life and those flowers are wild.
Wild! I bet they were livid.
< apologies to NTNOCN 🙂 >
2/10
Your argument was far too logical, with not enough swearing, capitals or exclamation marks.
Must try harder 😉
Crime of the century.
We're OOp Northe jon1973, it the way around here.
Get some buddlia (Sp?) seeds. Scatter them all around her house. Leave it a few years. Watch her house fall down surrounded by butterflys and pretty purple and white flowers.
Nature war!
< apologies to NTNOCN >
Respect to Gerald.
[url= http://www.thewildflowersociety.com/wfs_new_pages/1f_code_of_conduct.htm ]Some sort of code.[/url]
Crime of the century.
Bit early to call, no? Still got 88 years to go. In that time, someone could not shut a gate properly.
write to your mp, and maybe the daily mail.
Jamie I really shudder to think that could happen and live in fear of someone upsetting some sheep.
Jamie I really shudder to think that could happen and live in fear of someone upsetting some sheep.
Ooh ooh! I saw some sheep today. 😀
Some people shouldn't be allowed to breed!
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of golden daffodils
[s]Jon1973[/s] Wordsworth
OK. Let's stop taking the piss now.
Shouldn't common sense prevail? A couple of bunches of daffodils taken from the millions dotted around the countryside is hardly worthy of mentioning, is it? Gobshite could have been a little less gobshitey, but come on?
Yeah I just googled that too 😀
Reading it though, I can't really why the poem's so popular, as it's pretty rubbish after the first line.
don simon - MemberOK. Let's stop taking the piss now.
Shouldn't common sense prevail? A couple of bunches of daffodils taken from the millions doted around the countryside is hardly worthy of mentioning, is it? Gobshite could have been a little less gobshitey, but come on?
This. Times a million. FFS.
Damn. I was going to try and pass that off as one of my own.
Jamie I really shudder to think that could happen and live in fear of someone upsetting some sheep.
I'm scared. Hold me!
With the OP on this
Leave them there
Jamie are you talking to us or the sheep?
Not anymore (wipes tear from eye.)jon1973 - MemberI wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host of golden daffodils
Only 2/10 blimey I am having a bad day.
However was made up earlier on the ride when we spotted a Roe deer (rare around these parts) running away. It must have heard the screaming woman on the back of tandem descending at speed.
Jamie are you talking to us or the sheep?
I take it where I can find it, JY.
Someone report TJ to the mods for having more than one username.
And I'm with kids. * to all the busy bodies who stifle the innocent play of children. If they're older, thell them off all you want. If they're little, though, their 'armfuls' are hardly going to make a difference to a country full of them.
If I had have been there, I would have happily told the OP where to go.
In the countryside code, it states -
"If you need to pick a daffodil, please leave a banana skin in it's place. From a distance they can look the same"
Did you ask them what they were going to do with them? Might have been collecting them up to cheer up the old folks home or the like.
Anyway, daffodils are piggin' ugly flowers.
Take nothing but photos. leave nothing but footprints
Picking wild flowers is a crime I believe and certainly bang out of order
Picking flowers is a f*****g crime? The law can bite me.
Mother's Day next week.
The country could run out of flowers at this rate.
Best if the kids buy some of those overpriced, imported ones.
Picking wild flowers is a crime
TJ earlier today
[img]
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I'm with the OP, but then selfishness of this sort really gets my goat. I bet they don't even recycle.
Picking wild flowers is a crime I believe and certainly bang out of order
Show me the law and how it relates to picking the common daffodil?
[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2011/mar/16/rules-picking-wild-flowers ]Without going into too much detail, but you get the idea, not illegal.[/url]
I could understand the issue of picking a wild flower if it was a rare orchid or something similar but we're hardly short of Daffs are we?
The gobshite attitude is something else though.
(waits for TJ to come up with evidence that they'll be extinct within 5 yrs)
Saxonrider - I asked the children (aged about 8/9 and 10) politely to leave them for everyone.
As a child I didn't know this until an adult explained to me.
Would you really tell an adult in front of your children to 'F' off, charming I'm sure.
Obviously the chances are that there'll be a few people like the woman the OP met on this forum, selfish halfwits.
Would you really tell an adult in front of your children to 'F' off, charming I'm sure.
Its better if they learn not to talk to strangers.
Your actions created the situation for them to "learn by example".
Usually best not to approach other's children, reactions can be unpredictable at best.
Picking wild flowers is a crime I believe and certainly bang out of order
Don't worry they'll grow back 🙂
Obviously the chances are that there'll be a few people like the woman the OP met on this forum, selfish halfwits.
But at least their mums will have some nice Daffs next Sunday 😀
It's not a crime to pick wild flowers, digging them up is.
Yes Fing infront of kids is a bit strong but I'd probably asked you to move on if you'd had a go at my kids for picking flowers. I teach them it's ok to pick a few but not boat loads. Daffs are almost fair game unless there part of a display, there's thousands of the buggers now. You see them in waste ground, industrial estates and all over.
saying that's not a good thing for young children to hear!
think you probably lost contact at that point
It's not a crime to pick wild flowers, digging them up is.
I thought you just need the permission of the landowner?
edit
Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981, which covers Britain, it is illegal to uproot any wild plant without permission from the landowner or occupier.
Although, if it's owned by the local authority, I doubt they'd give you permission, so it amounts to the same thing.
Isn't the official legal position on this one of not affecting anyone else and if the perpetrators consider it to be in the interest of their own safety (that they don't get leathered for not giving mother's day flowers or jumping a red light), then it's ok to break the rules?
Yup uproot that's not picking.
Taking from a local park or display is a bit much but picking from some growing wild is fine in moderation, least I think it is.
Disagree strongly drac - if everyone takes a few there soon are none left.
"If"
Were they real daffodils or those plastic ones that the local tourist boards are now planting to save money. Did you even think of checking?
I can't actually believe somebody is angry over some flowers being picked 😆 Possibly one of the most ridiculous threads on this forum.
Disagree strongly drac - if everyone takes a few there soon are none left.
What's the consumer law say on that TJ? If the daffs aren't fit for purpose, can you return them to the landowner within a set period and claim compensation? I bet you can... 😉
Woman, gets up and storms off and shouts to me 'gerrra life'.
Me: Got one thanks.
Ho ho ho! That's hilarious. Talk about Oscar Wilde! She must have almost wet herself on hearing that response! You really put her down with that one. So often in these situations you only think of these snappy responses hours later. You should do some improv standup! "got one thanks"! Brilliant,
If everyone was to take them back would they be able to cope?
Disagree strongly drac - if everyone takes a few there soon are none left.
A bit like:
If everyone jumped red lights there'd be chaos.
If everyone went speeding on their motorbikes there'd be carnage.
🙄
Nail 'em up
Nail some sense into 'em
If everyone was to pick them then everyone would benefit from them achieving the purpose of having them?
If nobody picked daffodils the countryside would be overrun with them.
If everyone was to take them back would they be able to cope?
There would be CHAOS. I think I can say, without any fear of contradiction, that such a scenario would certainly mark the end of civilisation as we know it. I'm starting to see why Bummyhop was so concerned in the first place.
jon1973 - MemberIf nobody picked daffodils the countryside would be overrun with them.
Ohhh ... that would be very nice ... flowers all over. 🙂
I think children picking one or two is fine but judging from OP, the family is harvesting wild flowers which is rather selfish because there are others who want to enjoy looking at them too.
Daffodils are the grey squirrels of the flower world.
Are Daffodils the new triffid?
jon1973 - MemberDaffodils are the grey squirrels of the flower world.
Can you eat them?
If yes, I am in for massive harvesting ... 😆
they look evil to me
[img] http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01418/squirrel3_1418573a.jp g" target="_blank">
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01418/squirrel3_1418573a.jp g"/> [/img]
Its all gardening anyway http://www.ihatedaffodils.org.uk/links/links.htm
Some argue that the culture of not picking flowers / putting ladybirds in jars has contributed significantly to the reduced the number of folk with the necessary skills to help manage conservation.
I'm inclined to agree.
[i]In each case they damage the natural environment, providing no real
benefit to wildlife but making the countryside look like a garden.
Britain's wildflowers are under threat enough already, with
road verges often the only place left for them to grow.
We should be appreciating the natural beauty of wildflowers,
not planting Garden Daffodils all over them.
It's like painting lipstick on the Mona Lisa![/i]
Don't take what is not given. 🙄
Drac be right on this one - 1968 Theft act, Section 4, subsection 3 😀
Now, you'll excuse me while I go off exercising my ancient right to glean the fields and scrump apples 😉
I couldn't agree more with TJ, I mean IF everyone picked wild Daffs there's a good chance there'd be none left. Except 'everyone' won't, & never have.
On the other hand if 'everyone' picked them, would they hunt out all those hidden ones we come across in out of the way places? Cos if they didn't, there'd still be some left!
[url= http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/60 ]
[/url](3)A person who picks mushrooms growing wild on any land, or who picks flowers, fruit or foliage from a plant growing wild on any land, [b]does not (although not in possession of the land) steal what he picks[/b], unless he does it for reward or for sale or other commercial purpose.For purposes of this subsection “mushroom” includes any fungus, and “plant” includes any shrub or tree.
[i]Don't take what is not given[/i]
Does that include blackberries & apples etc, that grow on common land or do you need permission to take them?
Don't take what is not given
Air?
ds ,
don't start on the 'shrooms now.
esselgruntfuttock - Member
[i]
Don't take what is not given[/i]Does that include blackberries & apples etc, that grow on common land or do you need permission to take them?
If in doubt then use that as moral code otherwise you might want to ask for permission from whoever they are.
don simon - Member[i] Don't take what is not given[/i]
Air?
Can I have that back please ... 😆
I pick sloes every year without permission.
jon1973 - MemberI pick sloes every year without permission.
So you are depriving animals of their food supply then ...
Do you clear them out or do you leave some for the animals?
🙄
Do you clear them out or do you leave some for the animals?
Personally I take the animals too, tally-ho!
I leave a saucer of sloe gin out for the squirrels at christmas.
When I was a kid, we would go for long family hikes on which I remember picking things here and there. I picked them because I loved them, though at some point my dad explained to me that it was important to have regard for the resources (whatever they were). So I grew out of the practice. End of. No harm done, and a pleasant childhood to remember without any do-gooders and busy bodies telling me that I couldn't pick the flowers.
Unless it's something serious - like (but not limited to) violence/bullying/harrassment etc., people should just stay the h*ll out of other people's business.
So you are depriving animals of their food supply then ...Do you clear them out or do you leave some for the animals?
I normally leave them freshly picked daffodils so they have something to eat.
It wasn't supposed to be hilarious, witty or a smart crack.SamCooke - MemberWoman, gets up and storms off and shouts to me 'gerrra life'.
Me: Got one thanks.Ho ho ho! That's hilarious. Talk about Oscar Wilde! She must have almost wet herself on hearing that response! You really put her down with that one. So often in these situations you only think of these snappy responses hours later. You should do some improv standup! "got one thanks"! Brilliant,
Unlike the majority of people on this forum, I'm not articulate or had a high education.
So maybe being a slightly thicker type of person my priorities are for the environment and the world around us.
Our local council spent hundreds of pounds giving out daffodil bulbs and asking people to plant them around the countryside in there own time.
The area that had them in this afternoon, no longer has any left and no they won't last until mothering Sunday.
TBH come sept time I'm foraging like mad, apples plums blackberries, bags and bags of them, no one ever minds.
what's the difference between that and picking daffs?
what's the difference between that and picking daffs?
Daffodils taste crap.