Thursday 23/7/26 When we arrived at the mill we noticed our bird table stand was breaking up, so after a cup of tea outside, we carried it over to our table and took the stand apart. Eddie made a new angled strut and I made a cross piece. We re-assembled the stand with new screws, took it back and staked it down.
The nest box cameras are not working as the solar controller has gone wrong due to the battery being disconnected, it was then overcharging the battery and cut the power off with an error code, so we don’t know if the stock dove chicks have fledged yet.
Today was RAF Marham Families Day with many aircraft flying around over the mill and surrounding fields which we watched, I got several photos. In previous years we have seen the Red Arrows, but today we saw vintage aircraft and RAF Lightning jets.
Fred and his family were camping at the mill last weekend and they left us a big multipack of crisps, chocolate biscuits and a sack of logs for the woodburner stove, so Eddie and I had crisps with our lunch outside. I put crumbs left over from my lunch on the bird table and filled up their drinking water.
In the afternoon Eddie watered all the gardens and trees with river water and strimmed in front of the wildlife habitat, compost bays and compound entrance which were all overgrown with weeds. Anne Marie was at the Sandringham Flower Show today.
Cosmos and cornflowers in front of the visitor centre had fallen, so I held them up with garden wire and canes, then wired a fallen hollyhock to the tree which it was growing next to. We cleared up and came back, we saw two swans in the river on the way.
Thursday 30/7/26 Beryl said we could pick greengages from the tree near her holiday cottages, so I took the ladder round and picked a bag of them, they are lovely. On the way to the mill, at the fire site we loaded up two lengths of wood which will be useful. When we arrived at the mill we noticed a big sunflower in front of the visitor centre.
Eddie and I levelled the area where Fred removed a dead tree, we took barrows of soil from the heap to fill in a hollow near the oak tree. Eddie used some of the soil to fill a hole outside the wagon which was a trip hazard, we watered it to keep the soil in place.
I got more river water for Anne Marie to water the gardens as our water butts are empty. The gardens look good, lobelia and hollyhocks around the trees are still flowering.
We all went to the wildflower meadow to pull up tall weeds before they go to seed, this revealed a few cornflowers. We discussed the poor flowering of the meadow in the last two years, see the meadow update for details of our plans. I got the Gator truck and we loaded up all the weeds, I tipped them out beside the incinerator ready for when we can safely have a fire.
We then went back and had lunch outside, we saw a stoat beside the trench but I couldn’t get a photo. When we finished lunch Anne Marie noticed the smell of smoke in the air, I looked around but couldn’t see any, we later found out it was a wildfire at Shouldham Warren Wood, 3.5 miles away. There were 8 fire crews, its now under control, but the fire brigade are expected to remain there over the weekend.
In the afternoon Anne Marie walked back while Eddie and I went across our bridge to repair the seat on the footpath as the back of the bench had broken again. We added more screws which has fixed it.
We were advised that compost should be dampened in very hot weather to prevent it catching fire due to internal heat build up, so we poured river water onto each bay before coming back.
Graham Bartlett
Interactive Plan Activity Previous Projects Workers 5 Years Ago
