Looking round the garden recently made me realise that at the moment we have plenty of food for the birds and small mammals to enjoy, in the form of berries. As long as they don’t eat them all at once, they should last for some time.
We start with the Cotoneaster up the front wall of the kitchen.
On the front drive is a purple Berberis, covered in berries at the moment.
Still bt the drive is a Pyracantha with orange berries.
In the rose garden between the kitchen and the garage Rosa Bonica is making masses of rose hips.
The mixed hedge by the farmer’s field is full of lovely juicy berries for the wildlife. This is a Pyracantha with red berries.
Growing through the above pyracantha is a blackberry, seed dropped by the birds. This one will be allowed to stay, most get pulled out, but it is nice to eat your enemies in a nice apple and blackberry crumble!
Also mixed with the blackberry is the shrub Leycestaria formosa whose white flowers turn into purple berries which the birds love.
Ilex Golden King is at the base of the dead oak in the middle of the garden.
A bush of the ordinary wild holly is in the back border by the woodland.
In the corner of the back garden is a large yew, the birds spread the seed around the garden and soon I will have enough seedlings to plant a hedge, all for free!
Rosa glauca in the back garden, is covered is lovely rose hips.
Fuchsia Delta Sarah forms large berries, but I don’t know who is eating them, they vanish though nearly as soon as they are formed!
A dwarf purple Berberis has masses of tiny little berries, this is just outside the conservatory.
The small Lonicera nitida
hedge under the kitchen window has the most beautiful purple berries. These are hard to find to photograph but the blackbirds find them without any difficulty!
Myrtus communis has black berries the same time as its lovely white flowers, I’m not sure who eats them, but they vanish quite quickly!
When I was planting all these shrubs, I was thinking of providing the birds with food over the colder months, but since we discovered that we had dormice in the garden, I’m hoping that all these berries are being used now to fatten the dormice so that they can safely hibernate over the winter.
Is your winter larder bursting at the seams, waiting for all the birds and animals to arrive?
What pretty berries the Lonicera nitida has! I never knew … We have some berries here, although not the huge larder you have Pauline! You have reminded me that I keep meaning to plant a Leycesteria. Happy eating to your birds!
I didn’t realise that the Lonicera hedge had berries Cathy, as I never saw any until one day I spotted a blackbird jumping up and down on the hedge. Within the hedge, about 2 or 3 inches down, about as far as the blackbird could reach, I found the wonderful purple berries! Once you have a Leycesteria the birds will make sure that you are never without!
Beautiful photographs, Pauline. The bushes and trees seem laden with berries this autumn, they seem extra vibrant in the warm light too. I also no idea that Lonicera nitida produced purple fruits, I shall go and have a rummage around for them. Thanks for letting us know where to find them.
Many thanks Kate. I just wish the wildlife wouldn’t eat all the berries at once, I wish they would leave some for later when it is colder!
Wow, and I thought we had loads of berries – you’ve more than us! It should definitely keep the birds busy (I don’t think we’ve any dormice here, alas) but curiously one of the cotoneaster shrubs in our garden that has always been the first go-to for our blackbirds has been abandoned by them this year. It’s still full with berries, and usually by now they’re nearly all gone. Are there any in your garden that seem to have been neglected by the birds? We’ve spotted one robin pecking a berry, but that’s all. What they do love is the Pheasant Berry ( Leycestaria formosa).
I always hope that the birds don’t go overboard in their berry and hips excitement as the end result – if you’ll pardon the pun – is evidenced on the patio…
The cotoneaster by the kitchen window has usually been stripped by the blackbirds by now Val, maybe they don’t think it’s cold enough yet! Maybe they are just concentrating on the blackberries and leycesteria in the hedge by the field, there is always a quick fluttering of wings when I go down there. I know what you mean about their droppings on the paving, it can get a bit dire!
I love this post, Pauline. Beautiful photos reminding us how important the berries are to provide food for the wildlife. We have several large hawthorn trees in the garden ladened with berries. As you have pointed out, there will be nothing left for winter. But then the birds know there will be seeds aplenty hangingin the birdfeeders below! You have reminded me, I must check if more blackberries have ripened. Love apple, has to be Bramley, and blackberry crumble!
Yes, Denise, the birds have me very well trained, they know that I will provide, no matter what the weather!
We have a lovely large apple tree, planted by the previous people, but I’m sure it is a Bramley. It keeps us in one crumble a week all through the winter!
Oh there are plenty of tasty morsels there to keep beaks satisfied Pauline. I have a leycesteria formosa but didn’t realise that the birds appreciated it too 🙂 We were in Cumbria at the weekend where we came across the tallest holly we have possibly ever seen. It was smothered with berries. I wonder how long they will be there for.
The blackbirds love the Leycestaria Anna and I think to start with they were planted to keep pheasants happy on large estates, haven’t noticed them eating them here though. How fantastic to see such a holly, I hope the berries are left for the wildlife and not cut for Christmas decorations!
P.S. Just been thinking over my second cup of coffee Pauline that the common name of pheasant berry gives the game away! The shrub is well away from the house and obscured from view which is probably why I’ve not noticed birds enjoying those sticky berries 🙂
Second coffee already Anna, you’re way ahead of me! Yes, the common name shows that pheasants like the berries as well as blackbirds. My bush is on the way to the shed and the water butts, so I pass quite regularly, usually once a day at least.
What an enjoyable post! Your photos are lovely Pauline – such a wonderful record for you of all the berries on offer. I think our dormice have been in hibernation for a couple of weeks already, but the birds have been eating the yew berries and elderberries already. They are also very interested in the moss on our roof and have been throwing it everywhere!
Thank you Cathy. I’m hoping that our tiny dormice are feeding madly before the frost arrives, it can’t be long now before the temperatures drop below zero at night time. We have blackbirds who toss the moss out of the gutterings and make such a mess!
That’s a really interesting focus for your post, Pauline, and perhaps something we could all do – we certainly couldn’t match your larder though…
Some were chosen for their berries Cathy, but some were chosen because they are just nice plants, the berries are a bonus, for us as well as the wildlife.
You have so many colorful berries in your garden! I hope they provide plenty of food for the wildlife. I often forget to photograph the berries in my garden. I’ve never seen birds eating my Leycesteria berries.
Our blackbirds are quite comical, jumping up and down to get the Leycestaria berries out of the long tassels. There always seems to be plenty of berries for the wildlife, but once they start eating them, they seem to vanish so quickly.
I have been planting as much as possible that will feed birds and other animals, or give shelter to them. But don’t have nearly as much as you do by the looks of it. We’ve had an invasion of starlings here for the last two weeks eating leftover grapes and not so leftover figs, but it’s ok, I don’t mind sharing as long as they leave something for the other birds.
As long as we all do our bit Helle, nature will find it and make the most of it. Grapes and figs for the starlings, I hope they realise how lucky they are!
I usually forget all of the glossy and pretty berries that autumn brings until I walk through the garden and notice them all. You’ve got a great collection and your wildlife must be very happy to visit your larder.
I hope all the wildlife appreciate what I have provided for them Peter, probably not, but you never know! So many little creatures live in the garden so I think I must be doing something right!
I’m growing the Leycesteria under my bedroom window. All summer it’s been alive with bees, and now we wake up and watch the robins and blackbirds enjoying the berries. Such a great plant for wildlife. Thanks for sharing- and for following my blog. I can’t find a follow button on your blog- but I will keep searching.
It is a super shrub Karen, so many insects and birds benefit from it and it looks good too!
At the top of the right hand side on my blog , if you click on to the subscribe button, you will receive an e.mail whenever I do a post, thanks for wanting to follow!
Still working on adding fruit for the birds.
But I do have nectar for the sunbirds.
We have plenty of nectar for the butterflies in the summer, not so much now though Diana, as they are all going into hibernation for the winter.
It’s brilliant that you planted all these with wildlife in mind, Pauline. Lucky for the birds round my way, there are lots of shrubs with berries on although they seem to be enjoying my apples at the moment! I shall have to look more closely at the Lonicera nitida here, I didn’t know they produced berries so thanks for that tip!
There is plenty at the moment Caro, but once the birds start, they soon strip the bushes bare! I only realised that Myrtle produced black berries from reading someone else’s blog, I had never noticed them before.
Your berries are both plentiful and colorful. I especially like the Pyracantha, which I cannot grow. The critters in your neighborhood are very lucky.
All the berries attract migrating birds into the garden when the cold weather arrives Jason, as well as benefiting our resident ones. We get lots of birds from Norway, Sweden, Finland and the rest of Europe once the wind swings round to the East and they can strip a bush in just a couple of hours!
You do have some lovely berries, I’m sure your dormice will be more than happy!
How lovely to get a free yew hedge, I keep collecting all the seedlings too.xxx
Thanks Dina, hopefully the dormice will be putting on weight while waiting for the first frost!
I have potted up my yew seedlings, hopefully will plant them out next spring.