Sloe Gin on a Shrub

Picture of sloe berries growing wild, Leeds. As a boy growing up in rural W Oxfordshire the hedgerows near my home would at this time of the year have an abundance of sloes. These small dark fruits, similar to but smaller than a plum are the fruit of the blackthorn or sloe a common shrub of hedgerows across Britain. I was walking around the Rodley Nature Reserve when I spotted some sloes in the hedging at the fields boundary. So I captured these small fruits on my camera for this blog. Sloes can be used to make sloe gin and if not turned into an alcoholic drink wild birds like the fieldfare or redwing eat them which is fine by me. Whilst not a birdwatcher our countryside would be the poorer without our feathered friends.