Thursday 23/03/2023 We walked around the wildflower meadow and saw that flowers are now growing including Forget Me Nots, there are Poppy leaves too. More Daffodils are flowering in the grindstones and gardens. Anne Marie dug up a stray Snowdrop plant from the lawn and put it in the area around the small Oak tree.
I got the curved metal part which was found in the fallen wall debris on Saturday and put it on display in the visitor centre with the piece of tar floor with a bone in it, if we get more finds from there, we’ll make a separate section for them in the visitor centre. Beryl gave us some historic bottles found at The Maltings including glass ones with captive marbles in the top, we put them all along the top shelf with the others.
While I was sorting out and topping up our supplies of screws, a large Hornet landed on the table next to me and stayed there while I was working, warming itself up in the sun and turning around, then it flew away.
We filled the bird feeders and saw a Great Tit on the feeding station. Squirrels have broken several peanut feeders, fortunately we now have the new Squirrel proof feeder. A pair of Red Kites flew over while we were working outside.
We were given folders with photos of the early restoration work and information about how mills work, we had a good look through them today and will leave them on display for visitors, on open days we’ll put them on the outdoor table with the other pictures and information.
Anne Marie cleared molehills from the boiling house corner bracket and I cut some sticks and put them around the Hedgehog boxes as they like them to be covered, we need more materials such as leaves and grass cuttings to cover them better.
Back at The Maltings I printed out an aerial picture for Beryl showing the site in 1950 when trains ran into the yard from the nearby station and goods shed.
Saturday 25/3/23 Beryl gave us a large 6 port seed feeder and some peanut feeders to replace the ones the Squirrel has destroyed. We cleaned and filled them and saw Blue Tits, Great Tits, Goldfinches and a Chaffinch eating from them.
Eddie clipped the 12 Volt pump hoses for filling the water tank to the shed wall which looks better. Outside, Eddie spotted a pair of Egrets flying around the mill, a Red Kite was flying over the field again and a Cormorant flew over us.
Paul from Nottingham and his dog Bertie crossed our footbridge and looked around the mill and visitor centre, I played the video of the water wheel turning, Paul was interested in the historic finds, he is often in Norfolk metal detecting and hopes to attend our open days on 13 & 14 May.
We noticed the HLF sign on the river wall was dirty so we cleaned it with a cloth and mop. While we had the mop outside I also cleaned the glass panel over the brick floor.
We put spare roofing sheets behind the shed, these are in case we need to repair the greenhouse, I put some builders band around our sawing horse to hold everything against the wall and noticed our water butts were leaning over at an angle, probably due to the soil being soft from recent rain, so we emptied them and left the taps open ready to make new bases for them next time.
On our way back we saw a Kestrel on the track which flew up and hovered over the field, a Buzzard the other side of the river and a Muntjac near the fishing lake.
Graham Bartlett
Interactive Plan Activity Green Grant Wildflower Meadow Volunteer Previous Next
