Wednesday 22/10/25 Heavy rain and 50mph winds were forecast for Thursday, so we went one day earlier this week. Eddie took the mower as we needed to cut the grass and sow wildflower seeds.
Last week we thought the multimedia screen in the visitor centre had gone wrong, but today I found a concealed switch on the bottom which must have been switched off after the open days, I switched it on and the screen is now working.
The wildlife camera Howard set up monitoring the river bank has captured night shots of Muntjac and a Fox, and daytime views of Moorhens and a Pheasant, so we now know what uses the animal runs down the bank. Unfortunately the flowers on the cyclamen next to the left hand run have been knocked away by animals and the new cyclamen which Anne Marie planted on top of the river bank have not survived.
Eddie used our home-made harrow on the meadow but it was not having much effect so I cut some wood to make a box to hold bricks, we screwed it to the harrow which weighs it down. The harrow now works well, scoring the ground and de-thatching grass roots which will allow seeds to contact the soil. Eddie cut the grass short to help seeds reach the soil, we cleared the cuttings away and put them in our compost bay.
We hooked up the seed spreader and added silver sand which helps seeds flow, then added seeds saved from poppies which grew around the site this year, as well as wildflower seeds bought with the VE Day grant. Debra walked down with Hector and helped us empty purple poppy seeds from a tub of seed heads into the spreader.
The sand and seed was mixed thoroughly and I spread it on the harrowed areas, we are restricting seeding to the sloping bank and around the picnic bench in case we need to water next spring, as these were where most wildflowers bloomed and its not practical to water the whole meadow.
Hector the Labrador found his football which he enjoyed playing with. We swapped the seed spreader for the roller and rolled the wildflower seed in to give good soil contact. There is rain forecast so it should help seeds go down to the soil.
The wire mesh holding things in the insect habitat on the end of the visitor centre wall was coming away, so I climbed onto the logstore and hammered in more fencing staples to hold the mesh. Beryl gave us a bag of walnuts from her trees to eat and suet blocks for the birds, Eddie put one of the blocks out when he filled the feeders.
The sun had dried the grass by the afternoon so I cut the large and small lawns. We had a last cup of tea and biscuits in the wagon, then came back. I took the mower back and saw a pair of swans in the river.
The storm forecast for Thursday turned out to be just light rain and a breeze. Unfortunately Ryan booked a days holiday to join us and take his car for an MoT, but we went on Wednesday instead. The last time Ryan was at the mill was 2 months ago when he fitted owl boxes. We hope Ryan can join us again soon.
Thursday 30/10/25 We noticed the trunking carrying nest camera cables was exposed at the top of the river bank where animals erode soil away crossing the river, so we dug the trunking up and took the cables out, cut one piece of trunking in half and lowered both by digging soil from under them, then put the cables back inside.
Eddie got a barrow of soil and tipped it out to fully cover the trunking and I trod it down, I then checked all the cameras were working by switching on the monitor in the wagon. Now the trunking is buried lower down we hope it will stay covered.
The next job was taking off the woodburner stove door so we can fit a new rope seal which Debra bought. We opened the door and removed a keeper plate holding the upper hinge pin, then tapped the pins out which allowed removal of the door. Eddie cleaned the seal groove with a wire wheel, then we cleaned the glass.
We’ll fit the rope seal when we can find it and when we are ready to light the fire, as heat sets the glue which Debra supplied recently. We will need to light the fire soon anyway as winter is not far off, so Eddie cleared ash from the stove which I tipped on the garden where dianthus are still flowering, as wood ash is full of nutrients.
The display boards from the open days take up a lot of room in the visitor centre, so we removed the laminates to put them in ring binders so they can still be viewed. First we did the mill workers display, Eddie got the staples out and I punched holes in the laminates and put them in a binder, then we did the 10 year anniversary pictures which were put in another ring binder.
The mill workers display board made from two old doors was taken apart and the wood was put in our woodstore, the doors were put under a cover outside. The blue notice board used for the 10 year anniversary can be re-used for future displays.
We put another suet block out for the birds which Beryl gave us and we filled the other feeders. The long seed feeder was right above the camera cables, we think seed drops from it and animals eat it which also erodes the soil, so I moved it to another branch.
When we were standing by the river a heron flew up from the bank. The bench seat with a water wheel set into the back is cracked and dis-coloured (due to tanins in oak reacting to moisture and metal particles), so we will seek advice about treatment.
Graham Bartlett
Interactive Plan Activity Volunteer Previous Projects Open Days
