To celebrate the Autumn equinox I thought I’d share some berries, and for this post I’ve confined my enthusiasm for all berries to a shrub that really comes in to its own at this time of year, Dogwood. The species I see most often is Common dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), which grows in hedgerows and along woodland edges, the twigs of which have previously had an interesting use, according to the Woodland Trust website:

The origin of the name comes from the smooth, straight twigs which were used to make butchers’ skewers. Skewers used to be called ‘dags’ or ‘dogs’, so the name means ‘skewer wood’.

I only noticed this second species of Dogwood quite recently, and then only because of its stunning berries that start out as tiny globes of purple before turning a bright snowy white. This is Red-osier Dogwood (Cornus sericea), which is usually a cultivated species grown in parks and gardens but which escapes that controlled setting to become naturalised in wilder places.