Country diary: the devil's cherries are tantalisingly bright

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: The fruits of black bryony are jewel-like in the rain – but don’t even think of eating themA necklace of black bryony berries hangs from the barbed wire like crime scene evidence. Black bryony, the common name of Tamus communis, comes from the Latin bryonia nigra or vitis nigra, but the fruits of the black vine are anything but black. They are currants the colour of autumn – pumpkins, oak leaves, honey fungus, robin redbreasts; they are jewel-like in t