Monkwood Nature Reserve is jointly owned by Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and Butterfly Conservation and is freely accessible to the public, with a good network of paths. Don't be dismayed if you come across evidence of tree-felling - it's just that some paths and rides are being widened this winter to improve the habitat for butterflies, especially the scarce wood white.

Woodland butterflies don't flourish under uninterrupted tree cover - they need rides and glades open to the sun.

DIRECTIONS1 From the main entrance, follow a bridleway into the wood. Leave it soon after passing through a gate, turning right on an unmarked but well-trodden path. Follow it to the edge of the wood and turn right to meet the road. Turn left, then fork right towards Sinton Green. Take a field path on the right after 100m. Follow the left-hand hedge until it bends left then keep straight on across the field. Continue across two more fields to a gate in the far left corner of the second.

2 Turn left and keep straight on at a junction. Meeting a road, turn left to Sinton Green. Shortly fork right, then go right again by a phone box. Take the third path on the right, by a green gate (the second path, by Ivy Cottage, is simpler but is currently flooded). Follow the path to a field, turn right, pass through a gate and cross another field to a junction (with the Ivy Cottage path). Cross a stile and turn left across another. Walk through three fields. Towards the bottom of the third field bear left to find a footbridge hidden in trees.

3 Having crossed the footbridge, go straight on along the left-hand edge of a field, ignoring a cross-path. Stay by the hedge in a second field until it bends left. Don't follow it, but keep roughly straight on, to a gate in a fence ahead. Go along the edge of a garden, turn left on Moseley Road and then take a path on the right after a few paces. Turn left along a field edge then take a fenced path between houses, cross a street (Oakleigh Heath, Hallow) and continue between more houses to reach a field. Turn right along the field edge to Shoulton Lane.

4 Turn right, then take a footpath on the right after 600m, at a hedge gap. Follow the path across two large fields to a footbridge. Turn left along the field edge. Climb a stile on the right after 200m and go diagonally left across the adjacent field. Don't go into the corner, but head towards a brick farmhouse surrounded by trees, beyond the hedge, and you'll find a half-hidden stile. Cross the stile and turn right to meet a road at Moseley.

5 Turn left on a bridleway. Follow the left-hand hedge to a gap then go straight on along the right-hand edge of the next field. Turn right at a junction, crossing two stiles to the adjacent field. Follow the field edge for a short distance then cross another pair of stiles. Turn left on a waymarked path which is easily followed through four fields. Crossing a stile by a pond to enter a fifth field you should be able to go straight across to the far side, and then continue straight on along a fenced and hedged path, passing behind stables. At the time of writing, however, there is no stile at the far side of the fifth field, just a timber and barbed-wire fence. Either climb over the fence or use a gate in the field corner and then turn left to rejoin the right of way. As you go along the path you seem to be heading towards a dead end but if you keep going you'll find a stile in the hedge on your right. Follow the left-hand edge of the next field to Monkwood Green.

6 Turn right on meeting the road at Monkwood Green. You would expect to be able to go diagonally across the green, which is access land open to the public under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. You may find your way blocked by fencing and may have to walk along the edge of the green to a road junction, where you turn left to reach Monkwood Nature Reserve. Go through a fence gap on the left, ignore a roadside path and take a much wider path which heads into the wood. After 400m you'll see another path on the left marked by a yellow arrow. Don't take this. Continue straight for 12-15 paces to find an unmarked path on the right. Take this and fork left after a few paces. The path passes two pools, after which it is waymarked and you can't go wrong as you go back to the main entrance.

FACT FILEStart: Monkwood Nature Reserve, between Sinton Green and Wichenford, grid ref SO804606.

Length: Five miles/8km.

Maps: OS Explorer 204, OS Landranger 150.

Terrain: Mostly sheep pasture and woodland; no hills.

Footpaths: Mostly good, but see points five and six of the route description. Also, take care when crossing algae-covered stiles and footbridges which are very slippery after recent heavy rain.

Stiles: 21.

Parking: Monkwood Nature Reserve.

Buses: The 308 to Martley stops at Monkwood, mornings only (last departure from Monkwood Green 1234), Monday-Saturday. However, there are frequent services to Hallow (get off at the post office) - 294/295/308/758 Monday-Saturday, 300 Sundays/bank holidays; www.worcestershire.gov.uk/bustimetables or Worcestershire Hub 01905 765765.

Refreshments: Fox Inn at Monkwood Green, New Inn at Sinton Green, Corner Shop Post Office at Hallow.