I Spy Spindle!

I saw these beautiful Spindle fruits silhouetted against a glorious blue sky on my walk at Croydon's Hutchinson's Bank yesterday. 

Spindle, Euonymus europaeus, is a deciduous shrub or small tree, which is native in Britain and Ireland, but rare in Scotland. In the Spring and Summer it is very unassuming, with small, inconspicuous creamy-green flowers which are easily overlooked.

But in the autum it magically seems to appear as if from nowhere in the hedgerows, shouting "Look at me!" and flaunting its bubblegum-pink fruits, which will later split open to reveal day-glo orange seeds. Surely the fanciest of all the woodland fruits!

As the common name suggests, Spindle wood was used in the past to make ‘spindles’ for spinning and holding wool.