By noon, Beenham lie behind the occluded front, with a trough moving eastwards bringing the rain later on. Stats: Overnight low 10C, high 18C, rainfall 3mm, thickness 548dam (00z).

So, today dawned mainly bright and sunny, with an overnight low of 12.7C - pretty mild really. After writing the analysis (and posting it in the wrong place, doh) it was time to set off - earlier than normal, in case the Bank Holiday weekend had made things busy.

The in-car thermometer read 15.5C when I started (around 13.5C according to the Oregon thermometer at home), and the temperature stayed pretty much constant as I once again drove westwards, dodging the cones on the fabled M25.

The skies were still mostly clear at Beenham, although there were a few nondescript patches of cumulus around. As usual, the wolves were up and about, and indeed the Europeans gave a wonderful and prolonged display of howling just a couple of minutes after I drew up. And, amazingly, I had my camera ready:

Once they'd stopped, I went to see my favourity elderly couple, Kodiak and Kenai. En route, I bumped (not literally) into Duma, whose tail reminds me of a bottle brush now she's moulted!

However, I was in for a shock once I saw the old pair. No, it wasn't the searing sun on my back, more the way that the two seemed to be seperated (albeit putting their muzzles close to one another and whining). This is most unusual, as the two are usually kept in the same enclosure....

Anyway, here's a picture showing the two, including the bits you don't normally see (part of their sleeping quarters in this case, before they'd been cleaned).

It was just a short trip around the kennel to see my favourite wolf, Kenai. You may remember she'd had blue gunk applied to her chest, after developing a wound - well, she'd apparently managed to gnaw out the stitches, and had been seen scratching around her jugular vein. As there was a real risk she'd kill herself, emergency treatment was called for - she's now got a heck of a lot of stitches, a dog harness and one of those cones all securely strapped to her. As a result, she's seperated from he half-brother, as he'd be only too willing to help remove all that stuff.

It was time to clean up the kennels after that, which brought welcome respite from the sun. This time I was in the European's kennel, and apart from a few discarded bones all was neat and tidy. After a quick lunch (and a demonstration of the DVD player I'd installed in \\Kenai, the Visitor Centre PC), it was time for more work. Well, after making a fuss of Kodiak and Kenai that is, and I ended up with more balls of fur from said wolves (note: yes, they do actually smell different, although they both have a somewhat strong "wolf" smell to them unsurprisingly)

By now, the clouds had built and a brisk breeze had sprung up, making the now fleeting glimpses of sunshine seem much less warm. Ideal conditions for pulling up dock leaves, then, which is what I did next. As ever, there was a catch - it was the other side of Kodiak's enclosure and although he was absent at first he soon trotted up and had a darned good sniff around, pawing at the ground and the fence if we got too close. Talking of which, I had my camera there, too. It's not every day you get face to face with a wolf who could effortlessly knock you over, even if he is 10 years old.

It actually started raining shortly after, and there was a most mournful howling sound - Kenai, stuck on her own, had decided to howl, several times in fact. That made me have pangs of anxiety, as I'm pretty fond of the old wolf and felt really sorry for her - despite her not liking it much, it really is the best for her.

We went back to the centre after that, and I admired a massive cumulonimbus that was slowly heading our way. Sure enough, a few minutes later a torrential downpour started, with some small pea sized hail for a time. It was around then that we realised Kenai didn't have any shelter - so two of us legged it through the rain to open up the "trap" as it's called, the gate that allows wolves into their kennel area. Even after that, she semmed to prefer standing in the rain, so we headed back, absolutely soaked through. Indeed, my coat is still soaking wet, and it's a good 3 hours since I left!

The rain eventually stopped, and the European wolves decided to nuzzle one another:

They also licked their paws (and other areas) clean, something which seemed strangely cat like to me. And after that, it was time to be off - back through several more heavy showers, and some cracking cumulonimbus towers. Final point of note - between the showers, the car said 17.5C, falling to 13C during the rain. Although the air's not that cold aloft, it's enough to make a notable difference down here.

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