Thursday 17/7/25 The grass needed cutting after the recent rain, so I took the mower and cut grass by the bridge, upstream river bank and entrance track. I then cut paths through the meadow and a clearing for the picnic bench. Howard cut the big lawn and most of the other grass.
The free Heritage Open Days merchandise I ordered was delivered so I took it to the mill and unpacked it, there's a banner, bunting, flags, canvas bags, stickers, and visitor feedback cards which we gave out last time and got very positive comments.
Eddie weeded around the grindstones and the glass panel over the brick floor. We then went to the bridge and drilled extra screw holes in the metal strips we fitted last week to hold the floor edges down, the extra screws will hold them flat and level.
Last week I found another butterfly box with a hole in the roof where woodpeckers had tried to get insects out of the canes at the top, so I cut and fitted pieces of laminate flooring to make a new roof for it.
Eddie switched on the nest cameras and saw two white eggs in the barn owl box, they're not jackdaw eggs which are blue, jackdaws previously nested in this box. We hoped to see birds going into the box but saw nothing on the screen or outside.
Howard used the push mower to cut grass around the grindstones and benches next to the river bank. Eddie got buckets of river water and filled our tank which is the only successful way of watering the oak saplings which Fred and Debra gave us, if we hadn’t watered them through the drought they would be dead by now. Eddie also watered all the gardens, the sunflowers have reached the gutters of the building.
Howard invited Chris, Lorraine and their dogs Hudson and Fred over to look round so we put the bridge across and switched on the display screens in the visitor centre. They were interested in the exhibits and the story of the mill.
Debra walked down in the afternoon with Hector the Red Labrador, we threw his ball and a stick from our log store in the river for him which he enjoyed fetching. Eddie cut the lawn next to the wildflower meadow, this area had a lot of growth.
Howard sanded and painted the round table top green, as the black paint was flaking off and we all agreed it would look better painted green and black to match our other furniture. The table was a bit wobbly so Howard replaced screws with longer ones and tightened them all up which has improved it.
Eddie checked the oil level in the Gator truck and mower, the last job was filling the bird feeders and adding water to their drinking bowl before coming back.
Thursday 24/7/25 We switched on our nest cameras and discovered the eggs we saw last week belong to a stock dove which was sitting on them all day today. I originally thought it was a collared dove, but after studying the pictures I realised its a stock dove, which Howard has confirmed. Eddie lit the fire as it was a cold, rainy day, so we brought more logs into the wagon. We forgot to fit the new rope seal on the fire door, which needs to be done before the fire is lit.
Anne Marie arrived and brought the red lupin seeds which I gave her last year, some were planted today in the garden with the blue lupins and some were kept for autumn sowing in pots. The bag of seeds blew down the bottom of the river bank and I had to retrieve them. Anne Marie also sowed various seeds which Beryl gave us and weeded the gardens, there was no need to water anything today! The red dianthus planted recently among the lupins is now in flower.
The rain eased off and Eddie cleared grass and weeds away from our oak saplings in the wildflower meadow to give them the best chance of survival. Eddie and I put the butterfly box we repaired last week back on the tree it came from. Eddie asked what type of tree it was, so we looked it up in the Native British Trees book that Anne Marie gave us recently, we identified it as an ash tree.
We all pulled up yarrow from the meadow as it has taken over and swamped the few flowers we have this year, this gives better views of the flowers. The recent rain has brought more poppies and cornflowers out on the sloping area. Cornflowers and foxgloves are flowering which Anne Marie planted recently. Marigolds are flowering in the new areas of the meadow created and sown in spring. Thistles have started flowering, we leave them as they look good and birds eat them after they go to seed.
We had lunch in the wagon with the fire alight and discussed the poor flowering in the meadow this year due to the drought. We all agreed to restrict future sowing to smaller areas to make it easier to water if we need to.
In the afternoon Eddie and I pulled up tall weeds in the meadow, I went round and cleared all of today's cuttings and tipped them in the compost bay. We filled the bird feeders, I bent the wire loop of the long seed feeder to make it hang in the tree better.
Graham Bartlett
Interactive Plan Activity Volunteer Previous Next Projects Mill Workers
