The high moved NE'wards during the day, keeping Beenham under mostly clear skies and light winds.. Stats: Overnight low 12C, high 24C, rainfall 0, thicnkess 559dam.

Wow - I can honestly say today ranks as my best ever day at the Trust, and one of the best days of my life in fact.

Anyway, it was quite cloudy when I set off this morning (17C), yet the clouds broke as I headed westwards up the M25 and eventually the M4. When I arrived at the Trust, it was hot, with sunshine streaming down and a temperature of around 21C. There was some sort of surprise birthday thing going on, and while I was shovelling straw and sweeping water, you guessed it, the wolves howled. I missed it on camera of course....

After that, I zoomed down to Kodiak and Kenai. Kodiak was his usual self, and sniffed me as I approached:

However, I was there to see Kenai, and thankfully she's much better, bouncier and seems happy. She's having her cone removed tomorrow, so next time I see her she should be back to normal:

After that, the best thing ever happened. While the senior handler (John) was having lunch in a nearby pub, everyone else (except me) went into Duma and Dakota's enclosure to say hello. A couple of minutes later they asked why I wasn't in there with them, and my explanation that I was only a volunteer, not a handler didn't deter them. After asking if I was feeling confident enough to go in, as if in a dream I unlocked the bolts and let myself into the enclosure....

Duma and Dakota came over and rubbed against me, much like a cat - only much, much harder - it left fur all over my trousers amusingly. While they were rubbing against me, I was stroking them, truly something not even I could have dreamed of. As I was bent down stroking Duma, she lifted her head up and briefly touched her nose to mine, something which made me really feel it was too good to be true.

After that, Duma whined, licked my right hand quickly and rolled on her back, in an act of submission - I was free to rub her belly and generally stroke her wherever I wanted.

Several glorious minutes later I moved over to Dakota and after saying a few words to her I was stroking her too, pulling tufts of moulting fur away as I was doing it. Needless to say, I didn't have a camera there, but (with luck) there may be some photos of me in there available over the next few days, as Dominic had his camera! Incidentally, talking to a (dozing) wolf before you stroke them is highly recommended, as otherwise they might be startled and jump.

Overall, I spent over an hour with the other volunteers and handlers in that enclosure, giving the wolves a really good rub and stroking - Duma and Dakota were really quite dozy for most of it, seemingly enjoying it as much as we all were.

After that, it was off to the (hot!) woods, where once again I was on car duty. I did get some more pictures, though, one of Duma:

and the other is of Dakota, having a really good sniff at only she knows what:

Amazingly, there was still some surface water around in places, despite the recent dry weather. I gingerly avoided the puddles in my shoes, but the wolves had no such concerns:

After getting back to the Trust and drinking over a pint of water (it was *really* humid), I had time to take a picture of Duma and Dakota, lying in exactly the same spot in the enclousure as they were when we were stroking them - note the flattened grass where we'd all been earlier!

So, after one of the best days of my life, it was typical that the M25 should have snarled up around Heathrow and again a few miles on as people gawked at a crash in the other lane. Interestingly on the way home there were numerous "jellyfish" clouds, both at Reading, home and everywhere in between. Temperatures were around 24C to 25C on the way back, so it's been a hot day.

Stay tuned for the next update, coming in two weeks!

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