[Tweeters] Himalayan Blackberries

[Robert O'Brien via Tweeters]

The very same concept applies to insects.  I live on a large rural
property with mostly invasive annuals, biennials, perennials, etc..  Three
plants provide sustenance for many dozens of insect pollinators (*NOT* just
bees and butterflies)  Queen Anne's Lace (native to Europe and Asia and
naturalized in North America and Australia ), and the two invasive Thistle
species.  Without them, there would be virtually no insects here.  And
birds need insects.
Here are a few examples for Queen Anne's Lace (~Wild Carrot).
https://bugguide.net/adv_search/bgsearch.php?user=128549&taxon=&description=queen+ann&county=&city_location=&adult=&immature=&male=&female=&representative=
Bob OBrien  Portland

On Fri, Aug 15, 2025 at 11:59 AM Steve Hampton via Tweeters <
tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:


> Here's one of those strange examples:  In California, Himalayan

> blackberries are one of the few places where seriously-declining Tricolored

> Blackbirds can nest successfully, as more native places (marshes) are now a

> patchwork easily infiltrated by predators such as night-herons and

> raccoons. I recall a rookery of 2,000 night-herons in a eucalyptus grove

> near a smallish cattail marsh. The herons wiped out 5,000 TRBL nests in a

> few nights. But in the blackberries, the Trikes are successful.

>

>

>

> On Fri, Aug 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM HAL MICHAEL via Tweeters <

> tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

>

>> Gary brings up a good point about some of our decisions about habitat,

>> its restoration, and modifications.

>>

>> Early in my career I read an article by a WDG Wildlife Biologist.  He

>> described a situation (probably made up) of a corner of his yard overrun

>> with blackberries.  A song Sparrow nested there.  In honor of his European

>> roots, he annually "collected" a bird or two to eat.  Every year the

>> sparrows nested and produced young.  Then, he decided to clean up the yard,

>> install a gazebo and fire pit, and make the yard neater.  No more sparrow

>> nesting, no more sparrow eating.  He had converted a piece of land from

>> supporting Song Sparrow to essentially reducing the world population by a

>> pair and their young.  Like putting up those barriers instead of

>> blackberry.

>>

>> The second was in conversations with an entomologist regarding proposals

>> to replace (exotic) stands of eucalyptus in coastal CA with native shrubs

>> and such.  This would remove the trees in which Monarchs wintered and not

>> replace them (Monarchs have site fidelity) for decades at the minimum.

>>

>> There are times when exotic species may be providing ecological services

>> that the native plants don't/didn't.  Not saying that we should keep all

>> the exotics but perhaps a deeper dive into the services they provide and

>> how the loss of them will be mitigated.

>>

>> Hal Michael

>> Board of Directors, Ecologists Without Borders <http://ecowb.org/>

>> Olympia WA

>> 360-459-4005

>> 360-791-7702 (C)

>> ucd880 at comcast.net

>>

>>

>>

>> On 08/15/2025 5:48 AM PDT Gary Bletsch via Tweeters <

>> tweeters at u.washington.edu> wrote:

>>

>>

>> Dear Tweeters,

>>

>> Although I favor native plants in a passive sort of way, I will never

>> bad-mouth the Himalayan Blackberry--if that is still the right name. I owe

>> my life to Himalayan Blackberries.

>>

>> In December of 1990, my 1971 Dodge Dart started sliding and spinning,

>> doing 360's all over Interstate 5 in Tukwila. I'd hit black ice. After

>> bouncing off a little subcompact, the car went careening toward a semi,

>> which I somehow missed. I distinctly remember saying goodbye to what had

>> seemed like a pretty darned good life up to that point. A moment later, I

>> was sitting in the driver's seat, utterly unharmed. The bulb of a huge

>> freeway light pole was slowly swinging back and forth right, a cubit from

>> my window. I had clipped the pole, which landed on my roof, denting it only

>> slightly. The front of the car had plunged into a huge patch of

>> blackberries, which absorbed the impact of a 3000-pound Mopar going 60 mph.

>> The frame was not bent; I just needed a new radiator and a few dents

>> hammered out.

>>

>> Today there is a line of concrete barriers where that blackberry patch

>> used to be. If I had hit that, I would almost certainly have died, or at

>> least suffered serious injury.

>>

>> At my old place in the Skagit Valley, we had huge, long thickets of

>> blackberries. The goats and I had our work cut out for us, keeping it under

>> control.

>>

>> White-crowned Sparrows and several other species nested in there. I don't

>> remember exactly what birds ate the fruits, but many did, certainly

>> including Starlings, Towhees, and Robins. In winter, I'd have all sorts of

>> interesting birds sheltering in those thickets, including White-throated

>> Sparrows almost every winter.

>>

>> Besides being my goats' absolute favorite food, the blackberries provided

>> an enormous bounty of fruit, and blackberry pie was a major feature of our

>> late-summer diet every year.

>>

>> Yours truly,

>>

>> Gary Bletsch

>>

>> PS I did a birding trip in the foothills of the Himalayas a few years

>> ago, visiting India and Bhutan. While I saw *Cannabis sativa *growing

>> wild all over the place, I never saw a blackberry. Maybe "Armenian

>> Blackberry" would be a better name. The *Wikipedia *article states that

>> the plant is native to Armenia and northern Iran.

>>

>>

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>

>

> --

> ​Steve Hampton​

> Port Townsend, WA  (qatáy)

>

>

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