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.
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