I was concerned in the heat of the summer that there would be a shortage of berries for the birds this winter, great swathes of the best blackberry banks had withered and died,
The winberries, had the very life blood sucked out of them by a young oak.
And of course my beloved pink rowan, had failed to flower, oh how I will miss it this winter, the birds will probably be more adaptive about it than me.
But things have rallied, acorns are abundant, I thought I’d be seeing the jays with their stitching flight, working across the field to their favourite oaks, but I’ve not seen one, I think they have found one tree and scoffed themselves silly, until they are unable to move
The red rowans are heaving with berries, well they were, the chickens have made inroads into them, further than you’d expect of a chicken.
They seemed to be having training seminars on how to get to the best position,
I wouldn’t mind but I’d put the wire cloches there to stop them digging up my plants
The same flourish can not be said of the grass. Farmers are still very short of feed for the winter.
Uphilldowndale 
All of our rowan berries have gone to the blackbirds.
We’ve still a full tree, which I think is a good thing.
Rowan berries are new to me, but I noticed this weekend that some of our berries are beginning to ripen: beautyberries, snailseed, peppervine. The fact that I’m seeing some berries still on their bushes suggests it’s a good year for them. During a drought year, what shows up is eaten in a flash.
Love the chicken pics. Clever, those creatures!
Snailseed? I think we need to see sanilseed.
Surprising to see blackberries withered like that. I wonder if they will reappear next year. xx
I think so, it takes a lot to conquer blackberries
Does Rowan flavouring mean you will not need to add as many herbs when the day comes?
The pigeons benifitted this year from my gooseberries that I forgot to cover up early enough – they had virtually every one from six huge bushes, but thankfully as usual nothing seems interested in the bumper crop of late raspberries that Don’t bother protecting.
I have no idea why they are not popular with the wildlife, they’re fat, juicy and very sweet!!!