Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2007/January 2008 | Page 57

COUNTRYSIDE, WILDLIFE & FARMING life Photo above - Autumn gold of the Field Maple (Acer campestre) Below: Burgundy red leaves of Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) hips from dog-rose probably being the brightest and certainly highest in Vitamin C. If not eaten by birds and mice on the stem they will soon fall to the ground where they become soft, fleshy and much more palatable. The bright red but highly poisonous berries of Black Briony will also, eventually, shrivel up with frost and hang on to their hedgerow perches until finally succumbing to gravity. Wild privet whose semi-evergreen leaves will be lost if growing in exposed places, offers a small black berry, again poisonous to us, but desirable to many birds including the winter migrant fieldfare. One of my winter favourites and possibly the most colourful is the spindle-berry. Not only does it give us bright red leaves in the autumn but its berries compliment pink with orange! We have an evergreen variety of this Euonymus in our garden that has an abundance of very similar and brightly coloured berries, just beginning to open. The dull purple flowers of Island Life - www.isleofwight.net the stinking iris, or Roast Beef Plant, one of only two native irises, grows in woodlands, hedge-banks, scrub and occasionally on cliff tops. The flowers become triangular capsules which, when ripe, split open to reveal a mass of bright orange berry-like seeds. Tree bark and branches are often highly coloured especially when clumps are growing next to each other. 57