Nature’s bounty of wild, native winter fruits

Yew trees’ bright, juicy red berries are poisonous to us, but birds can eat them happily, their digestive tract being unable to break down the coating of the toxic seeds inside — a perfect ploy for the yew trees to spread their seed intact

A fieldfare in a rowan tree. Picture: Alamy

As winter asserts itself, spindle berries are one of my favourite finds.

Their funky star-shaped pink berries stand out from scraggy hedges and woodland corners, welcome bursts of cheerful colour amid the wintery twigs and branches. Four bulbous lobes — the points of the star in cross section — each contain an orange-coloured spindle seed.