We have had a long hot summer here avg 35 C for nearly two months. As a result the cicadas bred like, well, cicadas. During the early morning I could here them starting to rev up as the sun rose. A sort of coughy splutter until they got warmed up, bit like a wee two stroke engine on watery fuel.

As late spring went into summer they bred and would make slightly more noise each day.

From one tree to the next they would start their buzzing, at times during the hottest part of the day it was deafening as there were thousands of them in the trees around where I live. Big sods they are too, but hard to see as they are dun coloured and well comoflaged.

Over the last two weeks the cicadas have gone quiet, now in the evenings I can hear the crickets chirruping in the garden and around the estate. A nice gentle noise and one that tell me for sure cooler weather is on the way.

Cricket markets have sprung up around town. Villagers from Zhejiang province apparently sell the best crickets. You can buy a cricket in a small bamboo basket for any thing from $1.20 to $5. The noise around the cricket markets is loud as the cricket vendors have an average of 500 or so little baskets to sell, all with a chirruping insect inside. Me, I prefer mine to be free in the garden so I dont buy. Some of these are fighting crickets, the vision of a cricket in martial arts garb or boxing gloves makes me smile. The Chinese like to bet on their fighting crickets. happily I dont think they are fighting in our garden, just looking for mates.

We will have the crickets in the garden until late October when the temperature gets to cool for them and they die off for the winter. Then the garden will be quiet again excpet for the birds.

So whats happening in your areas to tell you the season is about to change?