Grant: On 19 November 2021 at a site visit we were presented with a cheque for a Green Community Grant from Breckland Council for our project covering Wildlife, Cycling, Renewable Energy, Recycle & Re-Use. 

Wildlife: We installed Nest boxes for various birds, Butterflies, Lizards, Hedgehogs and Dormice with a nest box camera system. A Kingfisher nesting tunnel was installed in the river bank. We have a bird table, feeders & food, and feeder cleaning kit. I bought feeders which come apart easily so we can keep them clean. We made a wildlife habitat and insect hotel. Bat boxes were put in trees. This helps many At Risk wildlife species. See the Nest Box & Camera page for details, pictures and installations.

Cycling: We have a cycle rack, pumps, compressor, puncture repair kits and a cycle tool kit to encourage cycling to the mill. Cyclists often visit our open days and work parties and use the bike rack. A log splitter and battery chainsaw allows volunteers to cycle to the mill, as they no longer need to bring these tools from home.

Renewable Energy: Solar panels supply power for Illuminated shelves, mini fridge, USB sockets, nest box cameras, inverter to charge power tools, and Multimedia Screens. The log store, log splitter & battery chainsaw provide logs from fallen trees for habitat piles and fuel for our woodburner stove. Over 300 trees had already been planted along the river bank and mill, making the use of fallen trees fully renewable. 

Recycle & Re-Use: We have recycle bins for open days and work parties, water butts for watering the garden, cleaning finds and filling our water tank, we also bought a watering can. Tools & hardware bought with grant funds enabled us to make things from re-used materials such as a compost bay, large wildlife habitat, wall mounted habitat, small round table, large rectangular table, shelves for the shed, viewing panel for brick floor, sawing horse, small greenhouse, insect hotel and solitary bee house. Firebricks from an old storage heater were used for rubble on the track to avoid getting stuck in winter. We bought water based wood treatment to preserve old outdoor furniture.

Work: We put signs up on site to explain the project. A log store and battery chainsaw were assembled. The chainsaw is taken with us to deal with fallen branches, we clear the public footpath regularly when fallen trees block it. As part of the grant agreement, we only cut up fallen trees and branches, we don't cut down living trees. The log splitter and bird feeding station were assembled, we fitted a large display screen in the visitor centre and a small display screen and strip lights in the new display room. Shelf lights were fitted to new shelving racks to display finds discovered on site. We cleaned bird feeders with our feeder cleaning kit due to bird flu. We installed solar panels to power everything with armoured cable joining the buildings. We transferred bird food into new storage containers and put up hooks in the shed for garden tools.

Bats: We put up bat boxes at the mill and at The Maltings, we were already bat friendly with compost bay, Primroses, wildflowers, new trees and shrubs. The site has plenty of water, Hawthorn, Ivy, and hollow weeds for insects. Bats roost in our tunnels.

Purchases: Local Men’s Sheds made nest boxes and a bird table, many from reclaimed wood. Display screens are British made from County Durham, our log store was made in Wisbech, many items were from Amazon Smile supporting British wildlife charities. The highest grant spend was on energy, as the solar power system was expensive, the lowest spend was recycling, as most in this category were made from free re-used materials, and cycling which had only a few low priced items.

Completion: All grant funds are now spent. We clean out the Barn Owl and Great Tit boxes each season, birds have used them in the following years. We recently added two extra compost bins and extended the compost bay as it was overflowing. I held back a Kingfisher nest tunnel so it can be built into the river wall when its rebuilt, as this will be the ideal location.

Graham Bartlett,  Project Co-ordinator        

Interactive Plan        Site Activity       Nestboxes & Cameras        Solar Panels       Wildflower Meadow       Volunteer        Grants      19/11/21