Close to home The famous voyage to the Galapagos Islands on the Beagle is commonly thought to have inspired Darwin’s explanation for the incredible variety of living things: that evolution was driven by natural selection.

Yet it was much closer to his home, in the ‘tangled bank’ surrounding Down House in Kent, that Darwin made many of his discoveries. Just 3½ miles north-east of Oxford, on your very doorstep, naturalists through the ages have been drawn to the staggering diversity found at Sydlings Copse Nature Reserve.

Ancient woodland, limestone grassland, reedbed, fen and rare Oxfordshire heathland, are havens for more than 400 different types of plant. The site is teeming with birds and insect life like the longhorn beetle pictured above; and mammals such as badgers, deer and foxes also make their homes here.

Sheer variety In spring, cowslips and hairy violets begin a procession of changing colour in the flower-rich grassland. This festival peaks in summer with a display of purple knapweed, yellow rattle and wild basil with orchids dotted around. At the peak of summer, clouds of marbled whites, ringlets and meadow brown butterflies fly among the rasping crickets and grasshoppers. In contrast, the woodlands are darker, with great gnarled oaks and the tallest cherry trees you are likely to see anywhere, pictured right. In summer, the fen comes alive with the chattering of sedge warblers that breed among the lush reeds, while several species of dragonfly hunt overhead. On the heathland side of the valley, lizards can often be seen basking in the sunshine on stacked log piles. While down in the unusually sandy soil, a diverse community of solitary wasps and bees live in burrows.

As autumn progresses, a banquet of colourful berries attract birds to the woodland edge. Down on the ground, a wealth of fungi begins to emerge, from the bright red fly agaric to the luminous amethyst deceiver. Visit in winter, and the undulating landscape is transformed by sparkling hoar frosts.

Things to do Why not feel part of the natural world for an hour or two, by exploring BBOWT’s Sydlings Copse Nature Reserve for yourself? For information about how to get there visit www.bbowt.org.uk. The Wildlife Trusts are one of many organisations coming together for Darwin200, a programme of events taking place this year to commemorate the life and legacy of Charles Darwin. Go to www.darwin200.org for details.