Mahonia

The berries have just arrived on Mahonia Charity - there seem to be loads this year. Most disappear after a while and only a few ever get completely ripe. Perhaps the birds take them as soon as they're even remotely edible (if they are edible). It's like that with Amelanchier, the blackbirds eat the lot long before they're ripe. 

January seems such an unlikely month for new berries. The cold weather seems to be returning and with all the wet the riverside walks are getting a bit impassable in places.

I'm just about to start Thomas Hardy, The Woodlanders, which I haven't read before. That, and the woodburner, should be good during the dark evenings.