GREENWOOD
Nature and the neighbourhood
Hedgerow Wayfarer Berries
Various stages of development and ripening of the berries borne by the Wayfarer or Wayfaring tree (Viburnum lantana) seen in hedgerows around the village, notably in Olympic Park and the CD Nature Reserve – although they are rapidly stripped by the birds.
GREENWOOD 
I bet. They look tasty. I guess they are not people food?
They are poisonous for people.
For some reason they made me think of pokeweed, which is very common here, with beautiful juicy looking berries that some animals can eat but are poison to people. Pokeberries were used as ink in the past; I have done this myself as a child. We were not encouraged to do this since I guess people thought the temptation to eat some of the berries might be too much, but as far as I know, no one ever thought of doing so, we just liked the purple ink-juice!
That’s very interesting, Claudia. We do not have that species in the UK or anything like it. The only natural object that has traditionally been used to make ink from early historical times is the oak apple – a gall made by an infesting insect that lays its eggs in the leaves on oak trees .