Our shed is part of our wildflower meadow project, it was made in February and March by Fred and the volunteers. It was flatpacked and put on the trailer, then taken to site and assembled last weekend by Fred, Debra, Graeme and David, they also moved the heap of logs into our logstore, this is fuel for our woodburner stove in the wagon.

Work continued today with Fred, Steve, David and Graeme cladding the outside of the shed with featheredge boards, fitting the door, fixing slates on the roof which were taken to site today, lining the adjoining wall with the visitor centre, fitting flashings and trim to the roof. The shed is now almost complete.

Now we have the new shed we decided to change the store room in the visitor centre to an extended display of our museum, as we need space to show historic pictures and photos of the restoration which are currently displayed in the railway wagon, which is closed to visitors and used as a kitchen on open days. All items in the store room including the workbench will be moved to the new shed to free up the area for displays.

A bird nest box with camera needs to go on the visitor centre gable end, but access is difficult now the shed has been built. Fred suggested putting the nest box inside the building with a hole in the wall lined up with the nest box hole for bird access, so the box was modified to fit against the inside wall and will be fitted soon. UPDATE: this box was not used by birds so it was moved to a tree on the opposite bank where it was used by Great Tits, the camera was re-used in a Hedgehog box under the wagon.

I was limited to light work as I was recovering from a foot injury when working up a ladder fitting the Little Owl box on 17/3/22. I took the latest grant items to site including the log splitter and bird feeding station, both of which I assembled today. Several people tried out the log splitter as I was unable to use it. I installed the bird feeding station and filled all the feeders including suet logs and water bowl.

I fitted two Grey Wagtail boxes on the river wall by leaning over the edge, as I could not yet risk using ladders again. Grey Wagtails were flying around all day and when I crossed the bridge to take pictures of the boxes they were already showing interest in them. While on the footpath I topped up the cards which were empty and replaced the broken card box cover on our information sign. 

We had a visit by Ann from Narborough who crossed our bridge to look round, I explained what we were doing with the shed and preparations for our open days on 7 & 8 May and explained our projects, the Green Grant and Wildflower Meadow.

In the afternoon I fitted a display screen in the visitor centre which will be powered by solar panels. I plugged in the USB stick with slideshows and videos which I made and tested them. I put up Butterfly boxes and also Dormouse boxes which have the entrance facing the tree trunk to prevent birds using them and avoid predators. My last job was assembling the cycle rack, we'll fix this in the ground soon. We now have all the cycle tools, pumps and puncture repair kits as we often get cyclists at open days.

The Saladin Box from The Maltings which constantly turned the malt was on display next to the visitor centre and had to be moved to make room for the shed, an explanation sign has been made ready for the open days. Fred found two sections of the rack it engaged with, one piece will be put back on it to show how it worked. 

Abbie and Stuart’s Labrador, Hector kept us amused, we threw sticks in the river which he enjoyed fetching by swimming after them. He was good company, following me around wherever I was working including the other side of the river, but he preferred to go down the bank and swim across instead of using our bridge. The new shed looks good and has plenty of room for the garden tools and a work bench, the old storage container will be removed from site.

Graham Bartlett                

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