I’m so looking forward to my first cuppa of the day out in my garden this week, very unusually for me, I’m getting up early to spend longer with the birds and bees, enjoy the morning with them and share the beginning of the day nature’s way.

I place my chair facing east and as the sun rises through the filter of the birch tree branches, the strands of mist lying along the valley slowly evaporate, and the dew clinging to every leaf, flower and orb spider’s web magically disappears as the day begins to warm. The honey bees make the most of the Persicaria, so full of nectar early in the day that there are dozens of them moving methodically from flower to flower, no time to waste in gathering as much food as possible for the hive. They must know, as I do, that this last blast of summer can’t possibly last and we must all take pleasure in it while we can.

Autumn has been dropping heavy hints that despite the sun’s heat, it is here. The plums that ripened in august are frozen or made into jelly, the apples are beginning to fall now and most of my meadow lawn has been cut, but I’m hanging on to a small area as long as the weather holds before taking away the last refuge of the grasshoppers. There are the first signs of leaves turning and the grasses are coming into their own, their flower heads are spectacular, and as I’m learning this week, especially so first thing in the morning.