Blue Flower

Thursday 13/6/24  Several volunteers, including myself were on holiday for two weeks, so Eddie walked to the mill on his own to fill the bird feeders, he noticed the wildflower meadow was looking better with more Poppies, Cornflowers and Corn Chamomile. Eddie spoke to some fishermen and noticed the river banks had been mown in places.

Thursday 20/6/24  Eddie had another walk to the mill to refill the bird feeders and strim the area outside the greenhouse. River works were taking place along the river bank and Eddie spoke to the contractors who are making the river more natural with fast and slow flowing parts, with deep and shallow waters. Eddie saw a Swan with 8 Cygnets in the river.

Thursday 27/6/24  River works were still in progress, the excavator was in use along the river bank, so all three of us had a leisurely walk to the mill, we saw the Swans near The Maltings, they are still a family of 10. 

We saw a Trout in the river, and when we got to the mill our meadow was flowering well, I've added recent pictures to the wildflower gallery. Our ride-on mower is still out of action, it needs a new belt, so Howard used Barry's push mower to re-cut paths through the meadow and mow the area around the picnic table.

Eddie raked mole hills flat again and removed stones from them to prevent damage to the mowers. Eddie then filled the bird feeders, the long seed feeder was damaged by Squirrels, so he took it apart, cleaned it, re-arranged the parts to cover gaps and prevent seed falling out, then assembled and filled it. Eddie cut off the damaged part of a peanut feeder I brought today, then re-fitted the base and filled it.

Howard mowed and dug away soil around the visitor centre doors as they would not open. I pulled up tall weeds from the wildflower meadow, there are far less this year, so our efforts pulling them up last year before they set seed have paid off. I noticed a Ruby Tailed Wasp on the insect hotel I repaired last month, the drilled wooden block I fitted to it had a lot of holes in use by insects which have laid their larvae and sealed the holes.

We had lunch at our table outside and in the afternoon I straightened the bent prong of the small fork in the vice while Howard fitted larger screws to the bench seat which was very wobbly. 

Eddie mowed the grass on the bank next to the river wall. Howard strimmed in front of the wildlife habitat  and emptied a sack of Teasel seed heads in the bird feeding tray and on top of the habitat as Goldfinches feed on them. I filled the water bowl on the bird feeding station as they need plenty of water in this hot weather.

I watered the gardens and noticed the Ajuga plants have spread and Love-In-The-Mist are in flower on the river bank. We then put everything away and walked back along the riverside track, the river works are now finished and the Swans were in the same place as they were in the morning.

Graham Bartlett  

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