Unknown fruit berries found! Any advice appreciated!

Last post 20-07-2011 12:27 AM by Scott. 12 replies.

• 11/07/2011 10:37 PM

  RainbowWeather Location: UK Joined on: 21 Jun 2011 Posts: 6

  Reply | Contact Can anyone help with the following query. Or can anyone let me know of any association/organisation that could help instead! I have recently found 2 berry-fruits that I need to identify. They were growing in the hedgerows, in the county of Durham in the NorthEast of England Where - online - would be the best place to start looking for photos of these 2 items with which to identify the items? Or could I email photos of the 2 berries to an organisation, for them to identify for me! And if so, which organisation would be recommended?! Without knowing the names of the fruit I cannot Google for information on them, of course! Which would have been my first port of call. I believe one of the fruits may be a Greengage, but have no idea of the other. It looks like an olive, but I believe is not. Any help appreciated! ~ RainbowWeather ~

• 11/07/2011 10:46 PM	In reply to
  Scott Location: South Yorkshire Joined on: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 138	Reply | Contact A sloe possibly, it would not be ripe yet... The fruit of Prunus spinosa.. Blackthorn..

• 12/07/2011 12:28 AM	In reply to
  RainbowWeather Location: UK Joined on: 21 Jun 2011 Posts: 6	Reply | Contact Thanks for that info Scott! The berry could indeed be a sloe!, looking at photos of several of such berries at the Google Images website, if it is green when unripe?? as the berry we have is green. It is also - I meant to say this earlier too! - oval-shaped; hence the likeness to a green olive. I may well have to dissect it to have a better look! ~ RainbowWeather ~

• 12/07/2011 01:15 PM	In reply to
  Nature's babe Location: E Sussex Joined on: 31 May 2011 Posts: 16	Reply | Contact Enough for Sloe gin? Sit down before a fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconcieved notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. By Thomas Huxley http://www.wildrye.info/reserve/

• 12/07/2011 04:09 PM	In reply to
  RainbowWeather Location: UK Joined on: 21 Jun 2011 Posts: 6	Reply | Contact Hi Nature's babe: Now that     would be tempting! ~ RainbowWeather ~

• 13/07/2011 11:10 PM	In reply to
  Scott Location: South Yorkshire Joined on: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 138	Reply | Contact Oh yes, so easy to make too...

• 14/07/2011 04:49 PM	In reply to
  Lynnoot Location: Notts Joined on: 12 Aug 2010 Posts: 12	Reply | Contact Sloe berries are small and black, nowhere near as big as a greengage.

• 14/07/2011 08:29 PM	In reply to
  Nature's babe Location: E Sussex Joined on: 31 May 2011 Posts: 16	Reply | Contact  With Rainbow in your name, I thought this might interest you.   http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/14151541   Sit down before a fact as a little child, be prepared to give up every preconcieved notion, follow humbly wherever and to whatever abyss nature leads, or you shall learn nothing. By Thomas Huxley http://www.wildrye.info/reserve/

• 14/07/2011 09:58 PM	In reply to
  Scott Location: South Yorkshire Joined on: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 138	Reply | Contact No, two berries were found, one of which was identified. The other was small and looked like an olive. Which I identified as a unripe Sloe.

• 14/07/2011 10:00 PM	In reply to
  Scott Location: South Yorkshire Joined on: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 138	Reply | Contact What a really cool picture with a really good story..

• 19/07/2011 01:23 PM	In reply to
  RainbowWeather Location: UK Joined on: 21 Jun 2011 Posts: 6	Reply | Contact Hi Nature's babe Re Rainbow Toad: How bizarre! But beautiful too!    ~ RainbowWeather ~

• 19/07/2011 01:49 PM

  In reply to

  Susiq Location: Northumberland Joined on: 16 Feb 2008 Posts: 3,125

  Reply | Contact What a BEAUTIFUL toad, we have hundreds, sadly all very grey - but we like them anyway! RainbowWeather, if you are planning on picking those sloes later from where you spotted them, keep their location to yourself! Us northerners are very keen sloe gin makers they won't be properly ripe until after the first frosts, however, you will find they will all mysteriously vanish overnight if you time it wrong

• 20/07/2011 12:27 AM	In reply to
  Scott Location: South Yorkshire Joined on: 20 Oct 2010 Posts: 138	Reply | Contact That we are Susiq. Plenty to go around here though... The local Medlar has done really well this year too... Can't wait until their 'bletted'.