Berries

In a previous post I mentioned the berries on Dogwood, which are still green and unripe, but we have several other ripening red berries to enjoy already at Filnore Woods.

 

The orange berries of Rowan are already ripe and being gobbled by blackbirds and thrushes.

 

It's also known as 'mountain ash' because the leaves are a bit like ash leaves, but it is in fact no relation of the true ash.

 

 

And here are the blackberries ripening up.  They're a bit sour as yet but birds and mice have already started fattening themselves up on these juicy fruit, and numerous insects also feast on them.  We have plenty, so help yourself when you are up there.

 

Slightly less familiar are the scarlet berries of Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus).  The leaves look like maple leaves but the plant never becomes a tree.  It sends up multiple stems from the base so it's a shrub.

 

 

Birds like these berries as well but they are not good for humans.

Next is the Wayfaring Tree (Viburnum lantana) also a shrub, with wrinkled, downy leaves.  The berries which are red now will only be ripe when they are black.

 

 

And currently starring on the woodland floor, these spikes of red, poisonous berries are Wild Arum.