Welcome to the 2026 edition of the award-winning Fern podcast, as the season turns.

Released on the first of each month, the episodes follow the changing landscapes 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 seasonal perfume.

It's high spring and I'm applying my Fernern spring fragrance every morning, enjoying the sight of the

spray in the sunlight and a sniff of the outdoors even before I open my window. For May I'm

particularly enjoying its floral heart notes, rose to May, tuberose and orange blossom,

and how they blend with earthier tones of Valerian and

Ho-wood. It's not too late to sign up for a bottle of spring. Do visit www. fern.com to find out more

and join the waiting list. For May, we are in the wet woodland, where ferns glow amid the alders

in the light of this month's pair of full moons, and we catch sight of a tiny, spiny monster

in the water. We hear a song about May's unpredictable weather, and a story about a sparrowhawk.

Meanwhile, we forage for skullcap and keep our eyes peeled for an elusive wood spirit with long white hair.

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.

On a damp May afternoon, the forest drips, steady and rhythmical, water working its way through the canopy. Goatwillow leans over the ditches,

its long leaves measuring out droplets into the tannin stained pools below, where reflections

are broken by concentric rings. Here beneath the canopy, the world is green upon green upon green. Moss fared along

fallen trunks, swelling over stones, climbing the ankles of trees as though the earth was steadily

reclaiming them. Everywhere ferns and scroll fresh fronds. On a straight trunk, a nut hatch works headfirst downwards,

probing crevices with methodical taps.

A tree creeper spirals upwards on a neighbouring tree,

...