Hello Stu, from that photo I would say that they are ready to pick, or rather my husband says so as he has been picking sloes for years to make gin with!

Oh, many thanks for that. They "looked" ready but I always thought they had to be picked much later!

The point is that the fruit is ripe long before it is edible. Sounds silly, but the tree changes the acidity of the sloes in response to cold weather. That change makes them sweeter. So one should really wait until after frost to pick them. But...................

If you re still dubious you could always wait another week or two if you want - I don't suppose the birds will eat them!
Traditionally you wait until the first frost. The sloes should be gently softish when you press them between finger and thumb.

OK, thanks folks . . . . I think I will wait a bit longer. I have also been told that if you pick them before a frost then freeze them that has the same affect as a frost.

Once the cold weather sets in, they become a major food source for all kinds of wildlife so act quickly.

That's interesting Paul. I don't recall seeing anything eating ours. Anything in particular?
Owd, That makes sense. My Mum always used to say if you leave shelled peas in the fridge they will become sweeter but that was because the carbohydrate was converted to sugars.

It's an important food source for all overwintering birds and mammals including rabbits foxes and squirrels.

I have seen our resident blackbird pick a few sloes - not popular with the avians as such for some reason in my garden. I do get foxes and badgers too though so I'll have to put out my camera traps to see if they'll eat our sloes.

Here in NY, it's a staple for the cardinals, mockingbirds & blue jays. The squirrels will forage them as well, especially when we get into January & February. Basically everything will nosh on juniper berries.

Never seen anything actually taking sloes, but the ones in the hedgerows round here disappear pretty quickly once they have sweetened up. There are a LOT of them in the hedges so something must eat them.

must say they don't eat many of the sloes in my garden, there are always plenty still on in Feb. Then just before they flower i find them on the ground. I love the blackthorn flower and have lost of small plants that may be suckers or germinated sloes. The hedgerows are full of blackthorn so I suspect they do eat them.

Juniper berries are also used to flavour gin, personally not keen on gin unless it is with vermouth! hic!

They will be suckers Eileen. In our garden they re a real pest and we find them quite hard to dig out properly.. We only have them as they are part of the old field boundary. The bushes send out long shallow roots that then send up new shoots all the way along. But the flowers are a joy in Spring...