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Blue Flower

Thursday 5/11/26 On our way to the mill we saw a Kestrel fly into a tree, there were several flying around over the fields today, they are probably the ones that nested in the owl box across the river back in June.

It was fairly cold today so Eddie lit the woodburner in the railway wagon and I brought more logs in. We had cuttings and rotten wood to burn outside, so we had a fire in the incinerator, which was appropriate as it was the 5th of November, bonfire night.

There were three large bags of building lime in the shed for brickwork repairs, but they had all split and lime was coming out over the shed floor, so Eddie brought the Gator over and we loaded the bags in the back, I swept the floor and shovelled the loose lime into a sack, ready for it all to be taken to The Maltings.

This cleared a large space under the workbench in the shed, so we re-arranged things to make the bird food and workmate benches more accessible. I put the harrow and wheelbarrows back so they are easier to get out.

We needed more suet balls for the birds, so I brought two tubs today, we emptied them into our container and filled all the feeders. A blue tit was eating peanuts later and a swan was in the river most of the day. Cosmos are still flowering in the garden.

Our next open days will be in be September 2027, so I made a laminated re-usable sign for our notice board on the Nar Valley Way so walkers can see when the open days will be. The dates will be added nearer the time, when known.

We crossed our bridge with the sign and stapler, I started putting up the new sign but the stapler ran out, so we had to go back to refill it. We also brought loppers to cut a tree and brambles near the bridge, cards to refill the box, a cloth to dry the inside of the card box and a screwdriver to remove old staples, Eddie removed 59 of them from the notice board and gate frame. The swan was still in the river beside us.

We burnt the cuttings and brambles in the incinerator, then came back and took the bags of lime to The Maltings. I cut Beryl’s lawns again, it was getting dark by the time I finished, I needed the headlights on the mower to cut a dark area under some trees.

Graham Bartlett

Interactive Plan Activity Previous Projects Workers 5 Years Ago

Previous Volunteer

The end of year review is also sent to the annual parish meeting, held in the first quarter of the new year.

Narborough Bone Mill is opposite the Nar Valley Way public footpath accessed from River Close. The mill is about a mile from the village, volunteers are there most Thursdays when walkers can cross our footbridge and look around.

We had another busy year at the bone mill, we started by making a blue tit nest box from salvaged wood, the camera from a hedgehog box was re-used in it, as we’ve never seen any hedgehogs. The blue tit box was not occupied this year but we saw great tits and stock doves raising chicks again in the other boxes with cameras. Kestrels nested in the tawny owl box opposite the mill, we saw their activity from across the river and watched the youngsters fledge.

We cleared a number of fallen trees from the footpath again using our battery chainsaw, we cut them up to use on our wood burner in our railway wagon volunteer base. We also repaired and painted the bench seat on the Nar Valley Way a few times, it’s worth it as we often see walkers using it. Our swinging footbridge across the river needed repairs again so we put aluminium checker plate on top of the boards which has given it a new lease of life.

Fred made an incinerator from an oil drum which we’ve had good use out of, although we couldn’t use it during the drought due to the risk of wildfires, there was a serious fire at Shouldham woods only 3.5 miles away, we were at the mill that day and could smell the smoke.

We had several sightings of kingfishers and I managed to get photos, we also captured night time images of an otter with a trail camera. The fallen river wall had birds nesting in holes, and vegetation grew up in front of it which looks more natural.

We made a water bowser for the mower trailer to water the wildflower meadow, but after another year of poor flowering we’ll leave it as a grass meadow next year. Flowers failed due to grasses taking over and out competing them, which often happens after a few years. Wildflowers grow well in our other gardens and we seeded a new bare soil area with grass and wildflower mix, so we’ll still have wild flowers at the mill.

We were given a wooden display cabinet to use in our visitor centre which we fitted lights to, which looks really good with all the finds illuminated. This replaced a metal shelving rack which was re-used in our shed.

We removed the trailer seats, and made ramps so we could take our mower to the mill in it, this saves petrol as we had to drive the mower two miles whenever we used it, although we didn’t need to cut grass during the drought. Trailer seats were put back for our open days to take visitors from the car park to the mill along the riverside track.

In July Anne Marie and her friend walked the full length of the Nar Valley Way from Kings Lynn to Gressenhall, staying in a B&B overnight. Anne Marie looks after the gardens at the mill which flowered well, pink lupins flowered for the first time and we started using compost this year from the compost bay we made in 2021. We also had visitors who looked round the mill one Thursday who were walking the entire Nar Valley Way and a visit from Swaffham u3a ramblers who did the circular walk.

In August I told the story of how I got involved with the bone mill with display boards in Narborough church as part of their ‘Everyone Has a Story’ event and my interview about the bone mill history was broadcast on BBC Radio Norfolk in October. Ryan who volunteers at the mill is now a Breckland Councillor, he appeared in Lynn News as he is one of the youngest councillors.

We were given drone pictures of the bone mill including aerial views by Steve who flew his drone from the footpath and another historic photo of the bone mill turned up in October showing the building and surrounding land as well as photos of boats along the river, these are all on our website. We were given a painting of the water wheel which is on display in the visitor centre.

Our last open days had a record number of visitors, we had to go and buy more cakes! The next open days will be in September 2027 as we will now open only once a year as weather, attendance and support is better in September.

For more information about the bone mill, see the website www.bonemill.org.uk

Graham Bartlett, Secretary, Narborough Bone Mill Blog --/12/26

Review 2025 Radio Interview Historic Photos My Story Meadow Update

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Solitary Bee Box

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.

In late 2025 we noticed the male eggs in the front part of the slots have hatched and left the box, female eggs were still in the back of the slots, but in April 2026 we noticed all the eggs were gone, so the females have hatched.

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