Tuesday 4/11/25 The only day Eddie and I could both go to the mill was Tuesday this week. We saw a peacock butterfly soaking up the sun in our compost bay.
We put our bridge across and took tools in two wheelbarrows down to the fallen tree we cleared recently, to bring back the logs to use on our woodburner. On the way I wrote the dates of the next open days on our sign and checked the card box was full.
When we cleared the fallen tree we cut enough away so walkers could get past, but today we cut the tree further back on both sides as a mower will need to get past when the footpath is cut. A pair of swans were in the river nearby.
We cut ivy off the logs and put them in our wheelbarrows to take back, they were heavy so we had a rest on the bench seat opposite the mill and watched a robin on top of the fallen wall and pied wagtails on the visitor centre roof. We carried the logs over the bridge and took them back to the logstore in the Gator truck.
We had lunch outside and saw blue tits and great tits eating from the feeders, that was before we filled them up. We also saw a great tit fly into the nest box we repaired last year on the opposite bank, we could see its face in the hole, then it flew out.
In the afternoon Eddie cut up the logs we brought back to fit our woodburner stove while I mowed the lawn between the wagon and river wall with the push mower.
Beryl gave us a historic small fire grate from one of the old cottages, it was very rusty so I used the rotary wire brush to clean it. We’ll put it on display in the visitor centre.
Eddie put the logs in the logstore and I tightened two handrail brackets on the bridge and checked that the screw caps fitted to the bridge recently were still holding the floor in place, which they are.
We loaded up tools, screws and wood to go back and put up another of Beryl’s fallen bird nest boxes from the tree near the cottages. We fixed a piece of wood to the box and fitted it to the tree securely with two long screws.
Graham Bartlett
Interactive Plan Activity Volunteer Previous Projects Open Days
We made our solitary bee box in November 2024, it has Perspex covering slots in the wood so we can watch progress of the eggs and larvae. There is a mud tray on top which bees use to line the slots and seal between each egg cell, they put a final mud plug at the end of the slot.
We noticed the box was being used on 15/5/25 when we saw some slot ends sealed up, we pulled out the cores and saw the slots filled with eggs and pollen.
Female Solitary bees lay an egg with a supply of pollen and nectar in each cell for the larvae to feed on when it hatches. Bees seal each cell with a mud plug in between.
Male eggs are laid towards the front of the slot so they emerge first and are ready to mate the following year.
Female eggs hatch into larvae and eat the pollen, then hibernate for around 11 months in the nest through summer and winter. The following spring, the larvae pupate, turn into adult bees and emerge from their nest.
I made a similar box for my garden which was also partially used.
We will keep watch on the nest box at the mill and keep this page updated with progress.
Graham Bartlett
The Little Egret is white with a black beak and yellow feet, its smaller than the Great White Egret which is the size of a Heron. Back to Wildlife
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The Great White Egret is the same size as a Heron and has a yellow beak and black feet. See also Little Egret. Back to Wildlife
