In case you were wondering...What date and time is the 2021 Summer Solstice in the Heswall district?

The Summer Solstice - the Longest Day to most of us - is on its way.

As the Earth rotates in space it is not upright, but on a tilt of about 23 degrees.

It's thanks to the tilt of our planet that we have seasons.

In the summer, days feel longer because the Sun rises earlier in the morning and sets later at night.

When the North Pole of the Earth is tilted toward the Sun, we in the northern hemisphere receive more sunlight and it's summer.

As the Earth moves in its orbit, the tilt of the North Pole changes. When it is tilted away from the Sun, it is winter in the northern hemisphere. In between we have autumn and spring.

The day that the Earth's North Pole is tilted closest to the sun is called the Summer Solstice. This is the longest day - with most daylight hours - of the year for people living in the northern hemisphere. It is also the day that the Sun reaches its highest point in the sky.

The winter solstice, or the shortest day of the year, happens when the Earth's North Pole is tilted farthest from the Sun.

This year the Summer Solstice will happen on Monday, and it's interesting to note the difference in times for sunrise and sunset across the country.

Nub News has websites in towns across England and Wales, and the hours of daylight differ significantly between them.

For instance, our town furthest to the east is Felixstowe in Suffolk, where sunrise will be at 4.34am and sunset at 9.18pm.

However in Falmouth, which is the Nub News town furthest west, sunrise will not be until 5.10am and sunset at 9.33pm.

Heswall, clearly much more important thanks to Wirral's Viking past and the peninsula's place in Arthurian legend, will witness sunrise on the longest day at 4.44am, and sunset at 9.44pm.

Make the most of it, because the following day, the 22nd, is 6 seconds shorter.

The Summer Solstice has long been seen as a significant time of year in many cultures, marked by festivals and rituals.

Traditionally, the Summer Solstice is seen as the middle of summer and referred to as "midsummer". Today, however, in some countries and calendars it is seen as the beginning of summer.