BBOWT volunteer Anna Feeney says the CS Lewis Nature Reserve in Headington is an oasis of tranquility with glorious colours

When November arrives, with the winds picking up and the temperature dipping lower, travelling long distances to get your weekly dose of nature can seem pretty unappealing.

Luckily there are many local options right here in Oxford that show off all the beauty autumn has to offer, such as the CS Lewis Nature Reserve that is only a short distance outside the centre of town.

Though conveniently close to the Headington shops and roundabout you can barely hear any of the traffic, and the quiet, calm little reserve is a poignant reminder of how one of the most famous Oxford minds found inspiration in the natural world as well as in grey dreaming spires.

This reserve used to be CS Lewis’ backyard, and it was these woods that he turned to when children, evacuated from London during the bombings in the Second World War, came to stay with his family.

A sanctuary and playpen for them, it became the inspiration for his famous book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

These days it’s alive and quirky, and I was caught by the variety of plants and animals you can see during the autumn. The small path that serves as an entrance soon opens up, leading straight to a large pond that all sorts of animals call their home.

A couple of centuries ago it was actually a clay pit, but over time it has filled up, providing rich nutrients for everything from frogs to grass snakes to pond skaters (though this time of year it is more likely to house some squabbling ducks and curious coots).

Following the path round to the right shows one of Lewis’ favourite spots, a stone bench that looks on to the pond.

Up past the bench, I found blackberries and holly bushes clustered around the edges of a smaller pond, while up to the left there was a more open area with signs of an old tyre swing.

The reserve is looked after by a small, friendly group of volunteers that meet up on the first Sunday of the month. The coppiced trees and moss-covered piles of fallen branches on the ground are evidence of their labours.

The autumn rain had turned that deadwood into moist homes for fungi and insects, which will then in turn act as a crucial food source for birds and bats. The wet nature of the place has created “giant’s marbles”.

Over millions of years the calcium in the groundwater has cemented sand together to form big boulders that resist erosion to stand out bold and proud on the slope.

The nature reserve’s trees also put on a fantastic display, their bright red and yellow leaves carpeting the ground and creating a natural mosaic that crunched and rustled under my feet.

Strangely enough, the colours that we find so beautiful in autumnal trees are actually always there — they’re just disguised in the summer by a stronger green pigment called chlorophyll.

Chlorophyll works to convert sunlight into energy, allowing the tree to turn water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and sugars. During autumn, however, when there isn’t as much sunlight, the trees go into a kind of hibernation, shutting down production of chlorophyll and preparing to live off the energy they stored during the summer. This drains the leaves of their green colour and allows for the vivid reds and yellows to shine through.

I ended up spending nearly two hours wandering around this small reserve, delighted by the signs of autumn and the thoughts of Lewis and the children exploring and letting their imaginations roam.

It is easy to see why Lewis himself said, upon seeing the house and the garden: “I never hoped for the like.”

Close to the bustle of Oxford’s city centre, and yet a quiet secluded piece of nature, it really is special and well worth a visit.

For more information about joining the monthly volunteering group, call Mark Bradfield on 01865 775476.