Blackberry picking is a most enjoyable and fruitful pastime, especially this autumn as the crop is a good one.

However, we are not alone in savouring the berries. I always advise picking them above dog and fox level as the latter is especially fond of them low down on the bushes.

Birds sometimes target the berries but perhaps more surprisingly, so do butterflies. The speckled wood butterfly is around from April in successive broods and its population reaches a peak in September, coinciding with the blackberry season with some individuals flying into November.

Being at home around woodland margins with an understorey of brambles, it is quite common to see speckled woods imbibing blackberry juices particularly if the fruit is beginning to ferment.

Interestingly, the spring brood of the butterfly sports bright yellow spots on a brown background (pictured) as the dappled sunlight reaches them when perched, whereas the later broods have duller yellow spots because the woodland canopy has closed in allowing less sunlight to penetrate below so the butterflies are more camouflaged with dull yellow.

The bramble is indeed a bountiful bush and botanists calculate that there are over 2,000 subspecies. The flowers provide copious quantities of nectar for insects and in early summer the bushes can be covered in bees and butterflies.

Folklore tells us that blackberries should not be picked after September 29 because the devil spits on them. Maybe we had better tell the speckled woods.