The nights really will be drawing in from today.

Yesterday was the autumn equinox, when we have 12 hours of daylight, and 12 hours of darkness. So from today, until March 20 next year, we will have more hours of darkness than light every day.

The long nights will also get noticeably longer when the clocks go back on Sunday, October 31. That means we will have, suddenly, an extra hour of darkness in the early evening.
But it’s not all gloom. While we won’t have more light than darkness for six months, the days will only getting shorter for three months.

After the winter solstice, this year on Tuesday, December 21, the amount of daylight every day starts increasing, as the transit of the earth around the sun brings the northern hemisphere closer to the sun, little by little

It’s minimal at first, with maybe a minute or two extra of light a day – and in the depths of late December and January it’s hard to notice – but by February it’ll be obvious. By late March, spring will be on its way and after the equinox, so will long summer evenings.