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There seem to be loads of trees around the centre of Leeds (and I was in Ulverstone in The Lakes and saw there too). I just ate a few though and they didn't taste too great and now I'm doubting whther they are cherries. Is there anything that looks like cherries, going from quite bright red into a very dark, almost black colour, but isn't a cherry? Moreover, if there is, is it poisonous?!

Cheers,
Bob

Hi Bob, to be honest some cherries aren't all that nice. Some can be quite bland flavour wise - and some of the black ones are supposed to be tart rather than sweet (these are usually used in cooking and preserving where the tartness is an asset). Unfortunately there are a few dodbgy plants out there but I can't think of many for this time of year with cherry sized fruits like your're describing that are likely to catch you out, other than perhaps cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) but the fruits would have had to be ready very early to be those as they usually appear in early autumn. These are edible, but not all that tasty and the kernels and all other parts of the shrub are toxic (in this case containing cyanogenic glycosides and amygdalin) but long as you don't gorge on them they shouldn't do you much harm. Try looking that latin name up on google images to see if it fits what you ate if you have doubts.

Anyway, either way it'll be difficult to give you a decent answer without having some real idea of what the plant you tried looks like. For the best identification photographs of the fruits and leaves for example with some idea of their scale are invaluable so I think you just taught yourself the first important rule of foraging - if in doubt, don't!

Next time you come across something interesting, pick just a few of the leaves and fruits as a reference, get yourself a really good photographic guide from the library and see if you can find out what they are before you have a nibble. Or photograph them and post it up here to see if anyone can help you id them.

Cheers, good advice. However, I turned 31 today, got married about 10 days ago and so am looking for a bit of excitement. I think eat first, ask later is more to my needs (not really). Pretty sure they are cherries but will have a look in a decent book.

Yeah sorry. Don't mean to sound nannyish but you wouldn't believe the number of people I've come across who've eaten seriously dodgy stuff in their enthusiasm to get stuck in.

Call it an overdeveloped sense of responsibility, but there is an saying 'There are old foragers, and there are bold foragers, but there are very few old, bold foragers.'

Sounds like a lot of the cherry trees around here too. They are just sour cherries I think, not very big either.
I did however, find a glut of lovely plump, sweet juicy, black cherries... lucky me I thought. Unfortunately not, they are growing right next to probably the busiest B-road in the country, which has traffic queuing pretty much all day.
I assumed that it probably wasn't safe to use them - shame!

On the plus side though, I had my first blackberry of the year today.

Ben