By noon Beenham lie under the warm front which had moved in from the NE, an unusual synoptic setup. Stats: Overnight low 9C, high 11C, rainfall 5mm, thickness 541dam (00z).

Today dawned grey and overcast, and that's how it stayed until the sun went down, not even a peep of blue sky. To add to the wintry feel, there was a brisk northerly for much of the day.

So, leaving behind a soggy Kent (the rape fields look somewhat subdued, it has to be said), I zipped along part of the national motorway network and found myself pulling up at the wolf centre at around a quarter past 10. Excellent - that gave me plenty of time to say "hello" to the wolves. The Europeans were up and about, as was to be expected, and Alba came up to say a personal hello. No picture, as my photo only has the top half of him on it .

After that, it was time to take the PC I'd souped-up back to the Trust's visitor centre. The temperature was 11C according to the car, so around 9C in real terms - and although I didn't feel cold in the wind and rain, some of the other volunteers did! On the way back with the PC, I stopped off quickly to see Alba again, who'd been watching me like a hawk.

Feeling somewhat daft (although no-one else was around), I went up and told him I'd named the PC I was carrying after him - and interestingly enough, he made some soft whimpering noises. I really wish I knew what they meant. Anyway, here's a photo of said wolf, taken a little later - he seemed fascinated by the procession of volunteers to-ing and fro-ing as we did the cleaning.

The rest of the crew arrived and we were split up to do the cleaning; thankfully the rain had eased to drizzle by then. I got to choose which wolves I wanted to see, so I chose Kodiak and Kenai - and for once they'd pee'd on their straw, so I got to help with a thorough disinfecting of the area. I also collected a bit of fur that they'd moulted, not that I can tell which wolf it was from. Kenai was still sporting her blue chest, and had endured having some stitches inserted to help close the hole her abcess had left. Poor wolf - no wonder she spend most of the time in her shelter!

Now that the rain had stopped, it was time for some quality time with Kodiak. No, I'm nowhere near well known enough by him to give him a stroke, but one day I hope to emulate this:

Kody (as he's affectionately known) enjoys drinking from hosepipes, too - never before have I seen a wolf literally gulp down water like this!

Here's the part where I mention the conditions on the way back usually, but not today, for I went on a wolf walk through the woods. Only snag was (as a volunteer rather than handler) that I was on "car watch" duty for an hour, which involved standing in the rain making sure no-one did anything dodgy to the cars or wolf trailer. They didn't, and after replacements arrived I zipped off to see Duma and Dakota.

Here's Dakota getting a tummy rub by the lake - sadly for me, pretty much everyone was moving, hence the blur! .

And later on, Duma decided to have a big yawn as I took her picture:

We then trundled back through the rain to the Trust, where much merchandise was sold and refreshments were distributed to the public. After they'd gone, I learnt a few more things in my quest to advance up the ranks - apparently, there's now a policy of a three-month minimum before you can apply to become a trainee handler, due in part to some volunteers coming along for one walk then vanishing. I also learnt that Alba, for all his strutting, isn't actually the main force of the Europeans, rather his sister Lunca is the one who makes all the decisions. Lunca's much more discrete in her dominance play, and until today I can't say I'd even noticed her doing it, just Alba.

On the way back home, there was intermittant light rain and the temperature rose to 14C according to the car. No sign of that cold front just yet, but I know it's out there somewhere!

Back to the index.