Friday 12/5/23  Emma, Ryan and Eddie had a work party to cut the grass, strim the site, weed the brick floors and prepare for the open days on Saturday and Sunday. See the Mills Weekend page for pictures of the event which included celebrating the Coronation of King Charles lll with a commemorative tree, decorations and Coronation cake which Emma made.

Saturday 20/5/23  Eddie and I walked around the wildflower meadow as its starting to flower now, there is one Poppy, plenty of Cornflowers, Chamomile, Forget Me Nots, Corn Cockle, a few Buttercups and some flowers we couldn't identify. We discussed mowing paths through the area which can be done soon.

We viewed the nest cameras, there are two Jackdaw chicks which we saw the mother feeding, the Great Tit is still sitting on her eggs. Eddie showed me the new Duck’s nest at the end of the river wall, four eggs were seen last Saturday, the female was back on the nest today.

The main job today was cutting away the rest of the tree across the track near the pumping station bridge, we already cleared it enough for people to get past, but we needed to cut away the log across the track. We loaded up the chainsaw, handsaws and loppers and went down the track to the fallen tree. We made two cuts in the log across the track, but we got the chainsaw stuck as the weight of the tree closed the gap. I planned to get my chainsaw from home, but on my way I saw Fred at The Maltings, so he brought his chainsaw and cut the rest of the tree away for us, releasing our saw. Eddie and I cleared the debris and put it aside for wildlife habitat. We then cut the log away so its completely clear.

Back at the mill, Eddie filled the bird food and I watered the new Cherry tree, we noticed the Lupins Dennis gave us are in flower. I brought some packs of biscuits today and Emma left us some from the open days, so we now have enough for visitors and volunteers.

UPDATE For better pictures of wildflowers, see the next website update on 1/6/23 with the meadow in full flower, also the Gallery of the meadow in flower.

Graham Bartlett  

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