Thursday 6/8/26 When we arrived at the mill the sunflower was leaning over, so I moved the wire holding it to the building higher up the stem and tightened it. Red cosmos are flowering again next to it and cornflowers and coreopsis are still in flower.
I went for a walk through the meadow, there are lots of thistles and just a few marigolds now. The insect hotel I repaired a few weeks ago still has all the canes, so the repair has worked this time. There were a lot of red admiral and cabbage white butterflies among the thistles and a wren flew up from the meadow into the hedge.
Emma and Anne Marie walked down, the front of the wildlife habitat was overgrown so Emma cleared it, the bottom layer can now be seen. There were still tall weeds in the meadow so Anne Marie started digging them up.
As we drove in on the track we noticed overhanging brambles and trees opposite the meadow, Eddie got the extending loppers and trimmed them back. Emma and I joined Anne Marie in the meadow, Emma strimmed the paths which had thistles growing along them, then pulled up tall weeds. I strimmed a way through to weeds in the middle and pulled them up.
I dragged the large cuttings from Eddie’s tree pruning to the incinerator, Eddie cut the rest up and took them in a barrow. I got the Gator and we loaded it up with all our weeds and I tipped them out by the incinerator, we’ll burn everything when the drought has passed. Shouldham Warren woods is still closed after the wildfire last Thursday.
We had lunch at our outside table again but it was quite windy and cloudy at lunch time, there was even some rain briefly. Anne Marie walked back after lunch. In the afternoon a tractor went past on the opposite bank cutting the Nar Valley Way footpath. We had a red kite, buzzards and a kestrel flying over. A single swan was in the river near the mill.
I got buckets of river water and Eddie unblocked the watering can rose using thin pliers and watered the gardens while I watered the trees. Emma weeded the hammer mill and cistern areas, they pulled up easily as everything is so dry. Eddie and I tidied the visitor centre, I got the head torch and put the large notice board, camping table and boards from displays up in the loft.
Eddie sharpened the loppers and secateurs with a file and I prepared the trail camera for an animal hole which Emma saw on the track next to an animal run going down the river bank. On our way back we set up the camera to see what animal is using the hole. Opposite the hole is a large blackberry bush, so we all picked some to take home, I also picked greengages from Beryl’s tree again.
Thursday 13/8/26 On our way to the mill we loaded up some wood from the fire site which will be useful for making things, then we stopped to pick up the trail camera we setup last week. As I lifted the base into the back of the Gator the camera fell off and nearly rolled down into the river, I had to put my foot on the strap to stop it falling.
At the mill we had a cup of tea in the wagon while I took the SD card out of the trail camera to take home and check the pictures. It was forecast to be 33 degrees today so we decided to work in the shade as much as possible. Eddie put some suet balls out for the birds but we didn’t see any today.
The bare soil area by the oak tree where Fred recently removed a dead tree needed seeding with grass seed, we had wildflower and grass seed mix left over from making the meadow, so we decided to use this, as wildflowers prefer bare soil so we should get a mix of flowers and grass. The oak tree is only small but it has acorns again.
There was a lot of rubble in the soil so we raked the area over and put the rubble in a barrow. I mixed the seeds thoroughly and we seeded the area by hand, I also got poppy seeds from the seed heads next to oak tree and sprinkled them among the seeds. We then watered the area straight away to stop seeds blowing away and give good contact with the soil as well as helping them germinate in such dry weather.
Anne Marie watered the gardens, our water butts are about a third full after a brief shower of rain fairly recently, but we also used river water as well. There are more cosmos now in the garden, they and the sunflower were in need of water. I brought some plant stakes for holding tall plants up, as canes and wire don’t work very well, we didn’t need them today so I hung them up in the shed.
We moved our outdoor table into the shade of the trees and Anne Marie removed honesty seeds which I brought today from their transparent pods, then we all had lunch outside. Horses in the field next to the mill came to the gate where we could see them.
Anne Marie sprinkled honesty seeds in front of the wagon and watered them. The seeded area by the oak tree was in the shade in the afternoon so we watered it again, I saw brown hawker dragon flies above the river.
We left early as it was very hot and Eddie wanted to stop on the way back to pick more blackberries, I also picked some, as well as greengages from Beryl’s tree again.
We saw a swan preening itself in the river on our way back. As soon as I got home I viewed the trail camera pictures, an otter is using the hole in the track, the pictures are at night and not very clear, the video is better, but its definitely an otter.
Graham Bartlett
Interactive Plan Activity Previous Projects Workers 5 Years Ago
