Welcome to the 2023 edition of the Fern podcast as the season turns.

Released on the first of the month, each episode will follow the changing landscape of the seasons,

from the moon and the stars to the tides and the trees.

I'm Leah Landers, author of The Almanac, a seasonal guide, And this podcast is a collaboration between myself and first,

makers of small batch organic perfume.

I'm so delighted to be launching a new year

and to be welcoming some new voices.

Zoe Gilbert, author of Mischiefax,

will be joining us with magical tales from the plant world.

Folk musician Gwilim Bowen-Rees will play a series of Welsh folk songs for us,

chosen by him to reflect the changing seasons.

And sound recordist Alice Boyd will be travelling the UK throughout the years

to collect field recordings for each month's meditation.

I'm sure you'll enjoy hearing their contributions as much as I do. We hope that this

brief guide to the month ahead will help you to settle deeper into the seasons.

The Sunrise in January.

You really don't need to be much of an early riser at all to catch dawn in January.

In fact, you might struggle to miss it.

We are only just past midwinter, and the North Pole is still at almost its maximum tilt away from the sun,

which makes for longer nights the further north you are.

On the 1st of January the sun rises at 8.20 a.m. in Padstow in Cornwall.

While up in the far north in Inverness, it doesn't rise until 8.58 a.m. You'll be halfway through your

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