Sloe time of year.

[DrPhill]

Split a fruit. If it has one stone its likely a prunus (plum/cherry) of some kind. If it is fruiting now it could be Bird Cherry (prunus avens?). Another possibility is cornus maas aka Cornelian Cherry (not a prunus?). We have cornelian cherry in the garden fruiting now. The wood is very hard and dense - it sinks in water. It used to be used for spear shafts. I am currently carving a stick from some.

 

[Bm101]

Split a fruit. If it has one stone its likely a prunus (plum/cherry) of some kind. If it is fruiting now it could be Bird Cherry (prunus avens?). Another possibility is cornus maas aka Cornelian Cherry (not a prunus?). We have cornelian cherry in the garden fruiting now. The wood is very hard and dense - it sinks in water. It used to be used for spear shafts. I am currently carving a stick from some.

In my defence... it was that really windy day last week or so when I saw the tree and I had the kids with me so I didn't get too close.
Anyway I was up there the other day again and took a detour to get a couple of the fruit as you suggested Dr Phil. Soon as I picked a couple I realised I was way out. Far too hard for plums/cherries as we suspected etc. ( Me being there, you from a dodgy out of focus picture on the internet )
Bloomin' tiny wild apples. Bit embarrasing!
Loads of crabs and so on round here but I've never seen a species that small. Inch diameter at maximum and they seemed to be mature, you'd think so at this time of year. Learn summat new every day.

Anyway, started bottling up the first of the sloes with some Aldi Gin.... I'm a classy Gent.
Tenner odd a bottle. 4 x 70cl bottles managed the 7 bottles below.
Mind you, that was 2 bag of sloes I have another 6 frozen. :shock:
In the name of Science! I have varied the measures and marked the bottles out in the hope of learning the most decent of mixes.
The Mrs was giving me loooong thoughtful looks as I was creating a mess in her kitchen lol humming away to myself and a big grin on my daft mug... Luckily I'd been at work since 4.30 am, picked the kids up from school, done homework, cooked dinners, I'm SuperDad! ( " I don't like chips./Wtf! You love chips. Eat your feckin dinner) Ok, not quite Super Dad , done the first gap fill mastic on the bathroom I've just finished tiling so I get a nice even bead on the finish . There's absolutely no ground to be given lol. 8)
Hold the line boys, never give an inch!

Anyway.
Thanks all for all the help and advice as always.

First turn after a day or two.

I'm waiting for the first frosts to be after the haws now.

 

[DrPhill]

Bloomin' tiny wild apples. Bit embarrasing!
Loads of crabs and so on round here but I've never seen a species that small. Inch diameter at maximum and they seemed to be mature, you'd think so at this time of year. Learn summat new every day.

Naaa, not embarassing. You live and learn (or you dont live long). Crab apple jelly?

I used to make sloe gin. Lots of sloes (more than the recipes...) less sugar (but use raw brown from somewhere reliable, not remanufactured brown). I have given up alcohol now but still have fond memories of my little flask on a cold day. Oh, and it never seemed to keep long. Usually all finished by June (best before empty).

 

[nabs]

that's a lot of gin mate - don't forget it is basically pure spirts that tases of pop. Don't drink it all at once!

 

[Bm101]

that's a lot of gin mate - don't forget it is basically pure spirts that tases of pop. Don't drink it all at once!

Shut the front door Nabs!
You mean too much Gin is bad for you?!?

God.
Whodathunk it?
:wink:
(I believe this is reversed btw, and the original left hand print is Beer Street. The way to godliness when there is typhus in the water.

Here's an early please drink responsibly advert by Hogarth.
If you take a look to the right you can see some people arguing about the best way to sharpen a saw. Nothing changes.