It may be psychological, but May the first is the time of year when I can shrug off those winter blues, encouraged by the fact that summer is now not far away.

To me the month of May is a fanfare of nature coming to life, revived by warm sunny days. Though the seasons are changing with global warming, I still like to think of May as it was in my childhood days - a time when May Day was celebrated to the full.

On May Day people went out at dawn to welcome the advent of spring. A time when girls or young women were chosen to be queens of May and maypoles were part of the celebratory dancing on village greens and in town squares.

May is the month when primroses are still thick on the banks and the hedges are all green. Apple and pear trees are a blaze of bloom and scattered oaks show their first signs of golden bronze foliage.

In the woods, bluebells spread their misty carpets beneath umbrellas of new green leaves, and the holly, maple and moutain ash are in flower.

Despite today's changing seasons, the birds still nest and incubate their families to the echoing call of the early cuckoo.

Modern May fairs settle on the traditional sites, with blasting sirens and music in a swirl of flashing coloured lights.

Sadly things change, but past to present, May is my month and the first of May, the start of many delightful months to come.

© Clive Rees, Monmouth Writers Group - May 2004