Forecasting a hard winter?

Today I have been looking closely at three different holly bushes in Mum's garden.  Two of them are covered in berries, the third has some tiny but intricate flowers..

This is the male plant - the female plants have the berries, but only if there is a male plant in the vicinity.

This beautiful, variegated holly is very prickly and covered in berries.

The yellow-berried holly is very prolific but has less holly-like leaves - they are less shaped and are not prickly.

It is said that a heavy crop of berries foretells a hard winter ahead, but this is apparently an old wives tale.  The determining factor is the weather in the early part of the year..

Even if we don't have a hard winter ahead, I am sure that the birds will enjoy feasting on the berries when the weather gets cooler!