Are these elderberries?

[LiterallyOnFire]

I threw in a mixed native hedging pack down one boundary when we moved in a few years ago, as a wildlife friendly place holder as much as anything.

I think these are elderberries but I'm not familiar enough to be sure.

Anyone?

It's similar but I don't think they're elderberries.

Thanks so much everyone. I'm glad I broke off work to ask Mumsnet. He'd be on the way to poisoning us otherwise.

They have no, or very little, pectin so you'll need jamming sugar or pectin from a bottle but the taste is very nice @LiterallyOnFire

Elderberries come in distinct clusters whilst these look quite sparse

The pics are definitely not elderberries. Elder berries make wine, but its dangerous to eat them raw.

My front hedge is all edible apart from some dog rose.
Rose hips are edible although it's a pain to get the itchy seeds out.

Now I need to find a real elderberry to see what you mean!

Oh I tried that one year at our old place. Was feeling all WW2 and wanting rosehip syrup. Really hard work. Especially when you have a fruit bowl full of citrus.

Ha, I know @LiterallyOnFire that's why I buy rosehip jam rather than making it myself. Can be found in some Polish shops, or my sister pops a jar into her Christmas parcel.

No, they're not whinberries (bilberries)
I used to be sent off to pick bilberries for DM to put in a pie, they're delicious. However, bilberries/whinberries grow on bushes low to the ground.

They look like Dogwood to me, we had them in the front garden, they could make you ill if ingested.

Also it’s simply not the right time if the year for elderberries!!

@WetBandits I think of that scene every time I see elderberries!!

The hedgerows near me are absolutely covered in elderberries. Perhaps, they are not ready further north?

Anyway which one of you blackberry obsessive came and nicked all the blackberries from my lane?

Also it’s simply not the right time if the year for elderberries!!

They are ripening here at the West coast of Scotland where we had the most atrocious summer for as long as I lived here, so I assume they are further along in places where the sun has come out at least occasionally in the past weeks.

Mine are ripe - and half eaten by birds (Northern Ireland).

I know someone once who made a huge batch of elderflower champagne - with cow parsley!

Oh wow. Did anyone try it?

Elderberries hang downwards in clumps that are usually level.

No, not elderberries

Dogwood or cornus, definitely not Elderberries

I know someone who did that too - fortunately it didn't taste nice so she realised something was wrong and they didn't drink it.

I too am making a pitch for Dogwood - probably our native species Cornus sanguinea

Yes, dogwood. Good job you asked, they seem not to be poisonous but they’re not edible.

Useful id tip for Cornus sanguinea (dogwood) - if you gently tear the leaf across the middle leaving a gap of a few mm, the sap is sticky enough that you can hold one half up vertically, and the other half will hang from it as if by magic.

Look at the pattern of leaf veins - that’s quite recognisable.

Dog rose will give you rose hip syrup. Or he could experiment with steeping them in vodka (note I said experiment- no idea whether it would work)