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I wonder if anyone can identify these pls....are they sloeberries?  If so when can they be picked?  (They look more like the size of plums in the photo below but they are actually only about one cm across if that)

Those are sloes alright. Won't be ready to pick until they've had a frost, though.

Adrian

But if you do not get frost, when they are ripe, ie soft, then put them in the Freezer for a week. It has the same effect on them as a good sharp frost.

I've never had problems making very good sloe gin from sloes picked before any frost - and also without freezing them at all.  I think it's one of those old wives tales that everyone seems to repeat.

Unless, of course, you're talking about using the sloes for some other purpose (is there one?) - they may be a little sweeter for eating after a frost ... but seriously - who wants to eat a sloe?

I would have thought that  sloes were still green at this time of year. More than likely small bullace, a wild plum that is nearly all stone. They do get bigger and make a good plum sauce.

Yep, they're sloes alright. I have a 10m hedge of them and mine are looking the same. They will go much darker in colour over the next 2 months.

Thank you everyone....so I take it that November is the time to pick them?

Hi does the shrub have thorns as is usual for blackthorn ? Can't see any from picture so could be small bullace as Ace suggested. Those are also good for gin

They look more like bullace to me, from the leaves and the lack of thorns. Try one, if it comes off easily and is delicious, it's wild plum, if it's resistant and then makes your entire mouth shrivel up, it's a sloe.

You know what, looking at them again, I can't see a spike anywhere - I think they might be damsons. How big are they?

Adrian

Damsons, Bullace, Wild Plum, depends from which part of the country you come from. All of them cross pollinate. Some are sour, some are sweet, big ones and tiny ones. Useful for jam and jellies if they are sweet, nice in gin or vodka if they are sharp or dry. That is what these are. Sloes are from the blackthorn tree or hedging and you can tell from the spikes which are one of the  causes of tetanus, so be careful and keep your jabs up to date if you are going foraging.

Damsons pickle nicely too.

I am not convinced about them being sloe.  Where are the thorns?  The other name for a sloe is blackthorn.
They look quite big and the leaves look rather big.  Can we please have a picture with something else acting as a scale. 

Technically sloes are not berries having a single stone but stonefruit or drupes.

Some of the sloes near me are almost ripe right now. Some have thorns, some don't - I suppose due all these crosses others have mentioned. Just be grateful if it doesn't have thorns and remember where the bush is for next year.

You can't wait for the frost round here, they get picked first.

I just pick them and prick them and make the gin. No frost no freezer and it's all good.

If the plant doesn't have much thorn then it's a bullace, or a very bullace like hybrid on the sloe/bullace/damson set, backthorn is pretty much Nature's razor-wire........ they make excellent gin, but I'd find them too fidldy for much else