I don’t have to go far to forage. In fact I can do it in my garden and in the hedgerows around us. The rainbow over our valley and hedgerows this week didn’t lead me to a pot of gold but a treasure of berries, fruit and more. I’ve already written about the overabundance of Blackberries in some of our hedgerows. So many in fact that I’ve frozen masses for crumbles and more Blackberry fool this autumn. (Tip – first freeze the blackberries in rows on a baking tray and then put the frozen berries together in freezer bags)
But in recent foraging expeditions I’ve found Sloe patches, Wild Plums, Haws, Rose hips, Dewberries, Elderberries, Water mint and even Wild Marjoram! There’s also been some poisonous berries lurking amongst them like dangerous bodyguards. Here and there Honeysuckle show up adding their sweet fragrance amid the thorns. Did I mention Wild Plums?! At first I thought they were Sloes …anyway more below.
The deer are also clearly fond of some of the fruit as they love to shelter – or hide from me – in the undergrowth and trees by the hedgerows. Here are a couple this morning fleeing towards a hedgerow as I walked along the back of ours in the same field.
So without further ado, here’s what I found in the hedgerows, some of which I brought back home:
Hawthorn berries – Haws – and Wild Rose Hips.
Haws and Hawthorn spiny branches and leaves
Wild Rose Hips
Dewberries – they look like Blackberries with extra large druplets.
Elder shrub covered in berries.
Elderberries
Poisonous berries also made an appearance here and there – the little devils! When I’ve gone picking with Luce and Theo I’ve pointed them out to make sure they avoid any toxic berries.
Warning it’s poisonous! The climbing Black Bryony has heart shaped leaves and the green berries will soon turn red.
The small red berries hiding amid the bramble and delicious Blackberries are poisonous. Whether you call them Bittersweet, Woody Nightshade or Poisonberry, the berries turn from green to red in the autumn and are very toxic. On the bottom left you can see a red berry of the poisonous Black Bryony.
And on a pleasanter and more fragrant note, I’m still finding Honeysuckle flowers growing in the hedgerows. But I have noticed that the non-edible Honeysuckle berries are also now forming.
Wild Plum tree in centre middle ground – plus water mint growing in left and right foregrounds – plus Wild Rose hips on right.
Now the best bit – I’m going to be making quite a few fruit flavoured gins this autumn. Yes, I found Wild Plums. And not just one bush or tree but many. At first I thought they were Sloes as they were small purple-black berries. Admittedly I was perplexed as the berries of the Prunus Spinosa (Sloe/Blackthorn) and the Prunus Domestica (Wild Plum) looked almost identical. But I could pick the latter without any fear of thorns. I also cut off some samples and checked with an expert. Apparently there are quite a few different hybrids of Wild Plums including the Bullace. 
Wild Plums with dew drops
Cluster of Wild Plums – Prunus Domestica.
Blackthorns were already covered in Sloe berries. They have rather scary looking thorns.
Blackthorn with Sloes
Another difference between the Sloe berries and the Wild Plum berries was the leaves. The Blackthorn had small oval shaped leaves while the Wild Plum tree had larger pointed oval leaves with blunt-toothed edges. 
On the left is a Sloe plus a small stem from a Blackthorn. On the right is a small Wild Plum and a stem from its tree. The leaves were not at all the same.
So I’m going to be feasting and drinking soon with the fruits from my hedgerow foraging. Time for Sloe Gin, Wild Plum Gin and Blackberry Vodka! I’ve already picked one batch of Wild Plums which I’ve frozen but they’re still quite bitter. Luckily, as all the bushes and trees are practically in our garden, I can regularly check on how they’re ripening. I also don’t have to worry about foragers nicking them before I pick them!
So autumn is rather fruitful and I’m looking forward to some good tipples this winter. Next week I’ll show you the results of a mushroom foray with a guide on a friend’s estate. I’ve also been collecting some of the flowers from our garden as well as these treasures from the hedgerows to fill up the vases in our home. Have you been foraging too?
Sara | mumturnedmom says
Wow, fabulous Kriss! You are going to have some wonderful treats 🙂 It’s great to see the leaves and fruits, I’m useless at identifying plants!
Kriss MacDonald says
I’ve learnt to identify so many of the plants and fruits as we’re surrounded by them. Also rather looking forward to tasting some of them with gin and vodka 🙂
Stephanie says
Love that arrangement in the second photo – definitely bringing the season indoors. I was out today looking for blackberries down by the Thames, mixed results but I have a tub full which is better than nothing! Lovely to have all this on your doorstep, I might resort to damsons from the greengrocers as I don’t think I’ll find anything nearby, but we’re off to devon in a week or so so I’ll be taking my tubs just in case!! #hdygg
Kriss MacDonald says
I popped over to a friend’s garden earlier this week to get some damsons but there were none compared to last year. Realised it was a biennial fruiting tree! Hopefully we’ll have lots of wild plums next year too.
Catherine @ Growing Family says
How brilliant – you’ve made me realise just how little I know about foraging! I bet it’s a rather addictive pastime – particularly with the promise of gin at the end of it all 😉
Kriss MacDonald says
It’s new for me but I love it!
Gemma says
I learnt about freezing blackberries the hard way! The first year I did it, I put them all in a bag at once. They froze into a solid ball big enough to knock out a wooly mammoth!! I love everything in this post, full of the seasons bounty. Autumn is my favourite time of year and you’ve captured it beautifully.
Kriss MacDonald says
hehe just thinking of the dangerous frozen blackberry ball! And thank you Gemmma.
Ness says
Although I live in the city suburbs there is an abundance of blackberries, damsons, apples and elderberries around the paths this year. I must get some more tomorrow to do some more preserving over the weekend.
Mammasaurus says
Oh such treasures! I’m ashamed to say I’ve not been out much in the past 2 weeks around here, what with being away and now the sickness and tiredness of jetlag which seems to be taking an age to vanish. You have really inspired me to go out and forage some bits to bring inside and display in our home. You really do love in a beautiful part of the country x
Thank you for joining in again 🙂
Kriss MacDonald says
You’re going to have to taste the gins I brew up this winter with my foraging Annie!
Claudia says
Kriss, you live in a magical place. rainbows and all. so beautiful!
Kriss MacDonald says
Thank you Claudia – I do love our little valley surrounded by woods!
Jenna Michelle Pink says
Oh some lovely finds 🙂
Pinkoddy says
Wow look at all that beauty – never mind free food and drink. I have to admit I was taught never to pick anything as you don’t know what is poisonous rather than be taught. I think I shall pick now and come back to this handy guide!
Kriss MacDonald says
Thank you! I tried to take some clear photos as I often go nuts trying to identify some of the fruits and flowers 🙂
Rosie @Eco-Gites of Lenault says
I am such a forager and this year is proving to be very productive – I have never seen so many blackberries and the rose hips are almost ripe for picking. Mind you I really should not pick any sloes until I have made the ones I picked last year into jelly … but I know I will! Have you cooked with hawthorn berries – I tried to make haw ketchup one year but it failed as apparently there is only a short time when they are good to pick and I definitely missed that window.
Kriss MacDonald says
I might try to make Crab Apple and Hawthorn fruit leather sometime but they’re probably best made in an Aga where you can put them in one of the low heat ovens for at least 12 hours!
sam- happyhomebird says
How lucky you are to have such a bounty on your land, I love the idea of foraging – I’ve done blackberries and bilberries but not a lot more. I’d not heard of a bullace before, like a new bit of knowledge 🙂
chickenruby says
thank you for the info on the sloe and wild plum, we saw some sloes on a walk around Bristol earlier this month and my MIL said she thought they were wild plums, but having looked at my picture now and comparing the leafs I can tell her to go a head and pick them for her sloe gin