Is this stealing?

[happypet]

We are renovating and have heras fencing across the front of the garden (farther back than what we legally own). I was in the front garden, when I heard someone chatting close behind me- 2m away. I turned to see a women picking blackberries from our plant- which grows in our property. She was chatting to her toddler whilst filling a bucket! I live on a quiet lane, and 6 houses along, its open fields with alot more blackberry bushes to choose from.

Excuse the pic, but I thought it odd that she squeezed herself between our car and the plant- to pick fruit from our bush. I realise its only blackberries, but AIBU that fruit on our property is ours?

I always go to the Land Registry and download deeds to check for ownership before picking from a blackberry bush. Who doesn't? Of course YANBU OP, that's a very reasonable expectation of this woman.

What's heras fencing?

The kind you see surrounding construction sites.

She took something that did not belong to her so yes, it is theft.

I'd personally put it on the 'cheeky bugger' end of the theft scale.

I imagine she didn't realise it was your plant.

If it bothers you, why didn't you just politely say that it's your bush and that the ones further down the field are full of berries she can pick?

Yeah let them know that it only protects the area behind the fence

It's entirely different

It’s completely different.

As far as I can tell the ownership of the bush is ambiguous. It sounds like it’s on the public side of the fence where the boundary is unclear. Moreover this is a fruit that grows in abundance in many common places. This woman had no reason to think that this bush was anything other that the wild bushes that grow elsewhere. It wasn’t obvious that she crossed a boundary line. Also, if the assumption was that these were wild berries then there is no cost involved.

If someone walked into my house to get a glass of water from my sink then they would clearly be crossing a boundary and entering my house uninvited. Also my water cost me money.

The two are not comparable.

perhaps she saw the heras fencing , thought the property was empty apart from builders and the blackberries were going to waste.

We used to squeeze through heras fencing onto land that was technically Railway property and had been allotments used by railway workers years before, blackberries, crab apples,rhubarb, wonderful stuff. Then one day we arrived and they had reinforced the fence. Bastards, we never went near the railway line!