Millennium Trail

Explorer Tom Parliament Piece sounds like the spot where the oaks debate a motion and the meadow browns demand a recount, but this six-hectare patch on Kenilworth's northern edge is a proper local nature reserve. Come for the tall trees and grassland; the butterflies can handle the speeches. The reserve lies off Upper Spring Lane, with parking at its entrance. Warwickshire Wildlife Trust manages a mix of open meadow, old hedgerows and a pond. The grassland is cut as hay, leaving coarse grasses, thistles and docks that suit skipper and meadow brown butterflies. In a good spell, the meadow browns can be numerous enough to make the air look as though somebody has shaken a box of tiny, rather indecisive envelopes. There is more going on above your head. Great spotted woodpeckers may be heard among Turkey oaks, beech, field maple and Scots pine. Beside the pond, ash and willow shade water where common frogs and smooth newts spawn in spring. Treat the place like a living patch of countryside, not a formal garden: the trust says paths are informal, flat but muddy in winter, and entry involves stiles. Those are rather better clues than any imaginary parliamentary usher. Parliament Piece is open at all times, and the trust points to April through July as a particularly good period. Cattle graze here in autumn, so keep dogs under effective control and on a lead when the animals are present. Take the time to listen at the pond, look up into the canopy, then watch the meadow conduct its own vote by wingbeat.