Anyone know what these berries are please?

mumtoomany

Hi all you wise and knowledgeable people. Whilst out collecting wild strawberries this morning I found these. The first is the size of a blackcurrant but growing singly not in bunches. Blackcurrant like leaves, but not much bigger than the fruit. Inside many small pips, like a blackcurrant. The second is growing on a very low shrub, only a few inches high, slightly smaller fruits, blue/black, again many pips inside, but slightly smaller. Thanks in advance. Mumtoomany.sorry pictures are the wrong way round, blackcurrant type one at the bottom.

theoretica

Possibly ornamental/flowering currant or other in the family - do the leaves smell blackcurranty?

The other one looks like a bilberry - in the blueberry family, but double check as the pictures are a bit blurred.

mumtoomany

Thanks, theoretica. Sorry the pictures are not very good. The leaves don't seem to smell of anything really. I thought maybe ornamental but as it's growing in the hedge row, quite a distance from any houses, I thought maybe not. The other may well be bilberry, now I've looked at pictures of them. Probably not poisonous then. I like to know what maybe dangerous for when I take the grandchildren out with me. Don't want them eating anything deadly. Thanks again, mumtoomany.

Apodemus

I’d agree that the bottom one looks like a flowering current, Ribes sanaguineum - presumably it is very bitter?.   The other is what we would call a blaeberry, Vaccinium myrtillus, not sure what it would be called locally in your part of the country.  Blaeberries are very much edible and worth collecting if you have the patience.  Unfortunately, while there are loads in the forest beside us, the best time to collect them coincides with the peak season for ticks and midges!

mumtoomany

Thanks, Apodemus. I have now tasted both, and am still alive, haha. The blackcurrant one though slightly sweet has no real flavour at all, not bitter but very bland. I'm guessing you are in Scotland, apparently blueberries are known as blueberries there. May wander back down and collect them tomorrow. Mumtoomany.

the_pink_panther_2

@mumtoomany I thought bilberry when I saw the top one, like bluberries but slightly smaller, just as tasty if not even tastier, that said, I couldn't be 100% sure from that picture. I've seen bilberries growing mostly in forests, but I've also seem them on Rivington Pike.

mumtoomany

Thanks pink panther. Rivington pike, that brings back memories. Went for a picnic there, many years ago, with a friend, who also has more children than most. Back when I was mumtonotquitesomany. Mumtoomany.

twopenny

The first one looks like a Whortleberry (west country name) which grows wild on the moors and edges of woodland. Whortleberry leaves are waxy and shiny, light yellowy green. Can't tell from the photo.

If the leaves aren't like that then its one of the family ie bilberries, blueberries etc.

The fruits are edible but fairly tasteless and when on a guided walk, giving them to non locals to try they thought they were bitter and horrible.........not used to wild raw fruit but they are full of antioxidents and vit C. They are made into jam and apple pies to give a bit of flavour but more a curiosity than of use.

mumtoomany

Thanks twopenny. The leaves are not easy or shiny. I think bilberry  from what others have said. Didn't get to pick any more today as, one, it's been pouring down, and, two, have had to go to town to take the PC to be looked at. Hopefully it can be fixed. He didn't look too hopeful when he realised it ran on Windows 7, didn't like to tell him that was an upgrade because Windows 98 stopped working. Mumtoomany.

twopenny

Ah a lady after my own heart! I'm hanging onto W7. It's the only  version I've had since W98 but going to have to give in shortly.

suejb2

Could it be winberries?