Polar maritime air covered the UK, with the low moving slowly eastwards and filling. Stats: Overnight low 14C, high 19C, rainfall 1mm, thickness 557dam (00z).

I awoke at some ungodly hour of the morning today, around 2:30 AM if I remember correctly. As is traditional in the summer, the window was open and it provided absolutely no relief from the humid and warm conditions inside. Try as I might, I just couldn't get properly back to sleep, instead thinking about the wolves and my early morning journey....

After some fitful dozing, it was ten to six - time to get up and prepare for the day ahead. 17.1C and partly cloudy skies greeted me as I went outside 40 minutes later and the temperature remained pretty steady as I swept along practically deserted roads. The Kent County Show didn't pose a problem as the roads were still clear, as was the case until I was deep into Surrey. By the time I headed further west, to Bracknell, things had turned less settled, with the scattered cumulus being replaced with some more convective stuff. I wasn't surprised to see rain shortly after and indeed it was raining as I pulled up at the Trust. Despite it only being 8:20 or so, I was beaten (barely) by Dominic, the Trust's photography guru.

After updating the UKWCT's public PC, it was time to meet the wolves - first up, Kodiak and Kenai. This time Kenai wasn't interested in coming up for a scratch, but Kodiak sure was! For the first time, I managed to scratch him. He has luxurious fur, especially around his shoulders and neck and being that close made me feel somewhat awed; that is one powerful wolf! He also has a reputation for nibbling people's fingers, so I was extra observant just in case.

By this time, more handlers were trickling in, the rain had eased - and it was time for another one of those amazing experiences. Here we see Duma, having a really good sniff around. Not long after, I was invited to join the others in the enclosure, and as you can imagine I was quick to accept!

This time the North Americans had a fun time squeezing around me, pressing me and bumping me with their noses, all the time while I was crouching, stroking them and removing some loose hair from their coats. Apparently Dakota showed a somewhat unusual side when rubbing around me, something more usually seen in February or March - I was watching Duma at the time, so can't confirm. I won't go into details, but suffice to say I'm not sure whether to take it as a compliment or not! I guess that's what you get for wearing Lynx deoderant, anyway....

Dominic wasn't exempt either, as one of the wolves had a great time shoving her muzzle inside the arm of his T-shirt, something which I wish I could have captured on camera as it looked so daft! The wolves then went over to the others, giving time for me to brush some of the wolf fur from my trousers.

After that, it was time to do some work - cleaning out the European wolves' sleeping area. That really didn't take much time, and by now the Sun was out, with scattered cumulus clouds allowing some long sunny breaks.

Then the guests arrived for the day, with Duma and Dakota being put in the "photo mound", a fenced off area within their enclosure that allows photos to be taken without fencing in the background being seen. Needless to say, I rattled off tons of shots, over 100 in fact - however, the PC's decided not to read the card with Duma and Dakota's photos on it.

After a break for lunch, the European wolves were lead in, with Duma and Dakota out of sight so they wouldn't see "their" territory being filled with other wolves. As you might imagine, a heck of a lot of scent marking went on!

This picture shows Lunca and Latea on the photo mound, with the fencing safely out of sight behind them.

However, as so often is the case when I'm down there, the clouds were building. First came some cumulus congestus, then some towering cumulus and eventually a cumulonimbus - and when you see this heading towards you, you just know you're going to get soaked!

The weather wasn't the only thing getting more interesting, as the wolves decided to have one of their dominance tussles in front of the public and John, one of the seniors.

It looks vicious, with teeth bared, paws flailing - and it sounds even worse, with lots of snarls and growls. However, it's an entirely normal part of a wolf's life, and although I'm not sure I'd want to be as close as John was, there's nothing to be afraid of (unless they decide to challenge you in a similar way!)

As the rain started coming down, the guests went off for refreshments and the wolves were lead away - here's an unusual shot of the Euros in Duma and Dakota's enclosure:

There was time for a quick trek around the nearby fields with the public, Duma and Dakota, then it was time to head for home, under increasingly sunny skies. On my way back, I saw some cracking Cunimbs, but of course couldn't stop to take pictures - some places must have received a real drenching. In the sunnier spots, the in-car thermometer read 23C, falling to 19C in cloudier areas.

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