To wonder if this can really be classed as stealing

[bittersweetvictory]

I live at about 2 minutes away from the sea shore and wanted some stones to make a border in my garden, i needed about 20 so went down this afternoon with my son to collect some, i was in the middle of doing just that when an old man came tearing out his house screaming at me that what i was doing was stealing and that if i didnt stop then he was calling the police, i thought he was joking but he kept ranting and raving at me, i took them anyway and told him to go ahead and told him my address, the shore stretches for about 3 mile and there must be about 64848465757 million stones on the shore, is this really classed as stealing ? can the police actually do anything ?

[bittersweetvictory]

ive decided to put the stones to good use, im going to throw them at the seagulls nesting on my roof.

[TimeForAValium]

My conscience is perfectly clear. And my garden is lovely.

You'd want to tone down your language though tbh. Do you have anger problems often, if you don't mind me asking?

[Asinine]

By the same argument, is picking wild fruit wrong? After all, the birds should eat it and reseed it naturally. If people eat it the seeds end up in the sea....

Is my sloe gin/blackberry crumble/blueberry tart a crime scene too?

Or do I have to crap in the woods to reset the balance?

[TimeForAValium]

You monster Asinine. How could you?

[olibeansmummy]

Wow! Who knew pebbles could cause so much arguing?! I live right by the sea and didn't know it was illegal. Actually I was gardening yesterday and dug up a load of stones, if I put them on the beach for you would that restore ecological balance?

[bittersweetvictory]

www.flickriver.com/photos/tags/broadsea/interesting/
this is the actual shore if anyones interested, amazing sunsets.

[MumblingRagDoll]

Timeforavalium I dont want to tone down my language. If you don't like it piss off.

I have no regard for the opinions of ignorant people like you who happily shit on other people's enjoyment of the envronment.

My rage is directed at all of the people on here who admit to damaging public property and especially the natural environment.

[SuePurblybilt]

Am with Mumbling and MaryZ. But there's no point saying it all over again - they already have and I don't understand why people don't see the difference between a child taking home a pretty shell and someone landscaping their front yard

[bittersweetvictory]

I spent an hour picking up glass over the beach last week so that people wouldnt injure themselves, no one asked me to, so i do care about the enviroment.

[FabbyChic]

It is theiving to be honest. Put them back o0)

[bittersweetvictory]

and i could hardly landscape my garden with 20 stones, il need at least another 50 trips for that.

[MillyR]

This is all a bit over the top.

Beaches are not a natural environment; they are modified by human activity and have been for thousands of years. Some beaches have additional sea defences on them, which leads to damage on other beaches as the energy of the sea ends up on adjacent beaches. Some beaches have huge amounts of sand taken off them and dumped on to other beaches for tourism purposes.

So it might harm one particular beach to take pebbles off it, but not another. It might harm one ecosystem to take shells off it, but improve another. There is clearly a great difference between taking 20 pebbles off a beach predominantly made up of pebbles and taking down part of an artificial sea defence or carting a wheelbarrow full of fossils off a beach.

If people are really concerned about humans having an impact on beaches, should you really be walking on them at all? I probably cause more damage to marine fauna by walking on beaches on numerous occasions and accidently crushing things than someone turning up once a year and taking home a couple of souvenirs does.

[MumblingRagDoll]

Would you say the same thing about someone taking armfulls of Bluebells from the woods Milly?

And the problem is that it's not ONE person taking 20 pebbles is it??

[MillyR]

No, and it never has been one person. People living near beaches have used beach resources since people first set foot on a beach. But clearly there are places where it is inappropriate, and that depends on the local area and the environmental issues it faces.

As for bluebells, it depends on the wood, who owns it, and in what ways they are attempting to manage the wood. There are sometimes good reasons to remove daffodils - they are often intrusive.

[ZXEightyMum]

at, "they look lovely in my garden" amidst all the furore and accusations of wankerdom.

I don't live near a beach and wouldn't take stones anyway but I had no idea it was illegal or about the impact on coastal erosion.

Mumsnet: It isn't just entertainment; it's an education.

[jasper]

where do garden centres get the big stones they sell?

[TandB]

I am genuinely surprised that so many people don't know that you are not supposed to take stones/sand from a beach and are apparently unaware of the reasons for this.

This isn't a new thing - I am in my mid-30s and spent a lot of time on the beach in the north-east as most of my mum's family lived a stone's throw from the sea. Even back then we all knew you didn't take bags of sand for your sandpit or garden and you didn't take stones for your rockery.

Our coastlines are actually quite a delicate system, partly due to being damaged by human activity for a long time. If people take large amounts of structural material away from the coastline, it will have an effect and the local authorities will finish up having to ship in replacement materials. This happened up north with the dunes at one point.

No-one is saying that the OP has single-handedly damaged that bit of coastline by removing 20 stones. But the point is that it is something that a lot of people would do if they weren't told not to and that would be a massive problem.

I suspect the old man was just sick and tired of watching people do the exact same thing day in, day out for these very reasons.

No-one cares if you put a couple of pretty pebbles in your pocket, but people are going to care if you come down to the beach and remove a large pile of rocks for your garden.

[sparkle12mar08]

Having worked in the field of flood and coastal defence assessment for Defra yes, it's illegal and yes, it's incredibly damaging to eco system defences on a national scale. I shouldn't be shocked at the ignorance and selfishness on this thread but I am saddened.

[JanMorrow]

You've been told it's technically stealing, so YABU. THE END.

[Serenitysutton]

I think the point is she wasn't told: you shouldn't do that etc. She was told I'm calling the police. There is no evidence that the police have prosecuted anyone for this therefore the man was full of bs and trying to intimidate her.

Putting end of at the end of posts is REALLY bloody rude and arrogent. You don't get to decide when the thread ends

[Bartimaeus]

I agree with mumbling who has said a lot of sensible things.

CBA to add to the argument because it seems no one is listening.

[fedupofnamechanging]

Okay, so if everyone took 20 stones there would be a problem, but the thing, is not everyone wants or will take stones from a beech, so I think there is some hysterical overreaction here.

I also think it is rude of the man to scream and rant at you. That is not the way to get you to listen to his pov, it will just piss you off. You catch more flies with honey.

OP, you can have my share for your garden

[melikalikimaka]

Coming from the middle of Britain, coast trips are a rare treat for us. So yes, I steal pretty rocks, shells and wood from the beach. I didn't know it was against the law.

It wouldn't stop me though, it's a bit OTT, isn't it?