Thursday 22/2/24  When we arrived there were three Buzzards flying over the mill. There was heavy rain in the morning so I lit the fire in the wagon and Eddie made us tea which we had with some of the new biscuits. Howard gave us a quiz to identify birds on the biscuit tin Beryl gave us while we sheltered from the rain, Eddie and I knew most of them but there were a few that only Howard could identify, as he is a keen birdwatcher. 

Howard bought us a new Carbon Monoxide alarm which he fitted and tested, as they need to be replaced after a few years and we have a gas hob and woodburner stove in the wagon.

While making tea, Eddie found rainwater was getting into our kitchen cupboards so I went outside to investigate, it was coming in through a thin gap below the window frame. Howard dried the surface and we put Duck tape over the gap which will do until we can seal and paint it in spring. When we are not at the mill the outer doors cover this part and prevent water getting in.

I cooked sausages in rolls with onions for our lunch which we ate in the wagon. In the afternoon I got the saw horse out, as the gaps between the supports were too big for the logs we need to cut, so I decided to modify it. I took off the legs in the middle and at one end, moved them along and refitted them to make the whole thing shorter and reduce the distance between the legs. Howard cut off the surplus wood overhanging the end.

One of the saw horse legs was shorter than the rest, so Eddie got a piece of wood we salvaged recently and Howard cut it to length. Eddie drilled and fitted it which completes the modifications. I found a log that needs cutting and put it on the saw horse, which now supports it perfectly.

The saw horse is stored behind the shed with a strip of builders band holding it to the wall, hooked over a screw, which it keeps slipping off, so I replaced the screw with a hook which holds the saw horse securely. Just as we were leaving, a Cygnet appeared in the river.

Back at The Maltings, Beryl has a 3 way bird nest box with open top on her wall, she asked if we could fit the alternative top which has a small hole for Blue Tits, as they were showing interest in the box, so we got the ladder and I fitted the top plate. Howard cut more branches off the tree so Beryl has a better view of the other nest box which we fitted in the tree on her lawn.

Open top nest boxes are for Wrens, Robins and Pied Wagtails, most other small birds prefer nest boxes with holes. We also have open top nest boxes at the mill for Pied Wagtails, to try and entice them away from nesting in the water wheel, which would prevent us turning the wheel at open days. We also have Grey Wagtail nest boxes on the river wall for the same reason. All nest boxes at the mill are part of our Green Grant.

Thursday 29/2/24  We found some double glazed glass panels in the skip at The Maltings so we took them to use at the mill for displaying valuable or delicate items under glass in our visitor centre. The Egret flew up from the track on our way to the mill. On site we removed broken glass from one side of the double glazing panels, leaving 3 single glass panes which we put in the visitor centre for safe storage until we need them.

We saw a Grey Wagtail on the handrail in front of the water wheel, and a Pied Wagtail was on our visitor centre roof, it then flew down onto the back of a bench seat. The area by the shed door was muddy and slippery so Eddie put down sand and rubble to make it safer.

A clever Squirrel had damaged one of the Squirrel proof peanut feeders by making a hole in it, so I cut off a section of another damaged peanut feeder and used it to cover the hole, held in with two large screws, we filled the feeder and put it in a tree. Emma bought us a bag of Nyger seed so I transferred it into a sealed container and filled up the Nyger feeders, after taking them apart and cleaning them. Goldfinches eat Thistle and Teasel seeds in winter and ignore the Nyger feeders, but they have now started eating Nyger again. We also filled up the rest of the bird feeders and saw a Blue Tit eating peanuts.

I brought another Bistort plant, they have pink lollipop shaped flowers and like wet areas, they attract Bees and flower in May. I planted it at the top of the river bank and marked it with a plant label. Eddie dug a hole and planted the Dogwood he donated next to the small Oak tree.

I had hot sausage rolls for lunch, heated in the oven above the fire. We switched on the nest cameras, the nest boxes are all empty but we saw a Blue Tit appear at the hole of the small nest box, so in the afternoon I got the ladder, put on goggles and a mask, and cleared out the old Great Tits nest so that birds can use the box again this year. I also cleared cobwebs so we get a better view from the camera.

Our last job was cleaning out the Bee houses, these are part of our selection of insect hotels and are designed to be taken apart and cleaned over winter to avoid parasites and fungi. None of the cells were occupied so we took off the wing nuts and took the layers apart which Eddie cleaned with a brush, then put back together. All insect hotels will be put back in the meadow soon, including the one we made recently.

Saturday 2/3/24  Daffodils are in flower in the grindstones which is a sign that spring is here. The river is still quite high, water is covering the brick lead-in to the floor in front of the water wheel.

The main job today was clearing out the old Jackdaws nest from the Barn Owl box. I checked the cameras and saw the box was un-occupied, so David went up the ladder into the tree, opened the hatch and cleared out the old Jackdaws nest. The box was sloping as the tree had grown, so we made a wooden spacer which David fitted at the bottom to make the box level, Ryan went up the ladder and passed David tools. David also fixed the front of the box to the branch to keep it stable. We hope Barn Owls will nest in it this season.

Emma made tea for us, weeded the flower border by the wall and planted more Lupins, the bulbs Anne Marie planted there are now coming up. David went down onto the brick floor in front of the water wheel and cleared mud and weeds left by the recent flood, he then washed the floor with buckets of river water and it now looks good. Ryan went across onto the pier and pulled a large patch of Ivy off of the wall and the top of the pier.

Ryan and I went across the bridge and I washed our notice board which had green algae all over it, on the way back I cleaned the Pespex panel over the brick floor of the Cornfield flower area which was covered in debris.

Graham Bartlett  

Interactive Plan   Activity    Green Grant    Wildflower Meadow    Gallery    Volunteer     Previous  Next