Monday 26/1/25 We had an extra day at the mill to do a few jobs. When we arrived a robin was on the empty bird feeders so I filled them up, we saw great tits and blue tits on the peanuts and a swan in the river.
Eddie brought logs in and lit the fire, then we went across our bridge to look at the bench seat on the other side of the river as we could see it was broken. We came back to get tools and materials to repair it.
We cut a piece of wood to replace one which had rotted and fallen out, fitted it to the backrest and held it in place with pieces of sheet metal screwed to the wood, then refitted the back panel with new screws. Eddie then painted the new wood and side tables. Back at the mill we used up the last of the matt black paint on the wooden supports of our steel bench seat beside the river.
We needed to tidy up the camera cable from the blue tit box on the visitor centre, I covered the white trunking protecting the cable next to the garden with black material and stapled it to the building to disguise it. I stapled the other end of the cable underneath the wagon floor all the way along to hold it in place and avoid damage.
It was 10 years ago that we started working on our railway wagon. Over Christmas 2015 it was moved to The Maltings yard to be refurbished and fitted out with furniture. It was finished and taken to the mill on a farm trailer in March 2016.
There was a large branch in the river behind the water wheel so I got the ladder and retrieved it, Eddie cut it up, he also cut up logs we brought back from the fallen trees we cleared last time. While we had the ladder out I used it to access the great tit box on the tree to clean cobwebs out and adjust the camera angle to get a better view.
In the afternoon we put logs from the pallet into the log store and I split some large logs with our log splitter. All logs are now in the log store which tidies up the area. On our way back we got a good view of a little egret in a tree.
Graham Bartlett
Interactive Plan Activity Previous Projects Displays Review 2025
We made our solitary bee box in November 2024, it has Perspex covering slots in the wood so we can watch progress of the eggs and larvae. There is a mud tray on top which bees use to line the slots and seal between each egg cell, they put a final mud plug at the end of the slot.
We noticed the box was being used on 15/5/25 when we saw some slot ends sealed up, we pulled out the cores and saw the slots filled with eggs and pollen.
Female Solitary bees lay an egg with a supply of pollen and nectar in each cell for the larvae to feed on when it hatches. Bees seal each cell with a mud plug in between.
Male eggs are laid towards the front of the slot so they emerge first and are ready to mate the following year.
Female eggs hatch into larvae and eat the pollen, then hibernate for around 11 months in the nest through summer and winter. The following spring, the larvae pupate, turn into adult bees and emerge from their nest.
I made a similar box for my garden which was also partially used.
We will keep watch on the nest box at the mill and keep this page updated with progress.
Graham Bartlett
The Little Egret is white with a black beak and yellow feet, its smaller than the Great White Egret which is the size of a Heron. Back to Wildlife
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The Great White Egret is the same size as a Heron and has a yellow beak and black feet. See also Little Egret. Back to Wildlife
