Furry bramble

Last autumn I decided that I would attempt to learn the skills of bramble identification - no easy task when there are over 350 named species in the UK and many more taxa which haven't been formally named, not to mention the hybrids! But after poring over the key for many a long hour, and after plenty of failures to identify specimens, I'm at last getting a better grip on the key characters and which plants are just not worth trying to identify. 

On our last day at Whitemoor I spotted this distinctive looking bramble, mostly because it was laden with luscious fruit which were very sweet, but it also had very neat, rather plicate leaves. This image shows the first-year stem and prickles - the presence and absence of hairs and the shape of the thorns are important characters, as is the colour of the stem. It proved to be Rubus vestitus, a fairly common species over much of southern Britain, though with few records in the Midlands (probably related more to the absence of people who are able or willing to identify brambles than any biogeographical reason). 

I'm not sure whether knowing its identity made the blackberry and apple compote any tastier! I must admit I'm looking forward to comparing the flavour of other species in due course!!