Welcome to 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 Lainters, author of The Almanac, a seasonal guide, and this podcast is a

collaboration between myself and fern, makers of small batch organic perfume, who blend,

barrel age and bottle four fragrances a year, released at the equinoxes and solstices.

I love wearing fern,

and my quest to live in tune with the seasons,

applying the season's perfume as a lovely little ritual

that reminds me to use all of my senses.

We hope that this brief guide to the month ahead

will awaken you to the rhythms of the year

and help you to settle deeper into the seasons.

The Sunrise

On the 1st of May, the sun rises at 5.27 a.m. in Inverness, and at 5.55 a.m. in Padster.

And what a racket greets it as it peeps over the horizon. May is the peak of the dawn chorus, the great cacophony that arises from our forests, parks and street trees.

No one knows exactly why birds do this, but we do know that female birds have a window of fertility that lasts a few days before and a few days after exhalade,

and that male birdsong peaks at around the moment of greatest fertility in their mates,

and then tapers off.

This suggests that the song could be playing all kinds of different roles.

It could be to impress his mate,

to ward off other males while she is fertile, and to mark out territory

...