High pressure remained in control throughout the day.. Stats: Overnight low 13C, high 27C, rainfall 0.

Today dawned misty, with a temperature of just under 15C. By the time I left at eight, the mist was lifting into low cloud, with a temperature of 17.5C. The skies cleared as I headed westwards, noting with interest the hordes of people heading to the coast in the other carriageway.

I pulled up at the Trust at around 10 AM, with the temperature around 20C by then under clear blue skies. As last night had been so warm, the wolves had stayed out and there was no cleaning to be done. However, there's always something to be done, and given the options we all chose to use wire brushes to remove old paintwork on the European kennels area - you may have seen in previous weeks it had started flaking.

Although the European wolves came over to investigate, they didn't stay long - the various clangs, squeals and squeaks from us volunteers didn't seem to interest them. As the sun continued rising above 50º, the heat really started building, with temperatures around 24 to 25C by my estimates. Of course, in direct sunlight it felt really hot, even though I kept reminding myself the sun's no stronger now than in mid May. Eventually I decided to try the other option, painting the shady back area of the pole barn.

Shortly afterwards, we were all invited into Duma and Dakota's enclosure, and this time the wolves decided to lope over rather than gallop towards us. Dakota let me scratch her belly for a while, before wandering off - a few minutes later, Duma came over and gave me one of her trademark squeezes, shoving her muzzle in all sorts of places and leaving shed guard hairs all over my clothes! Having been thoroughly "wolfed" again, I sat back and watched the others receiving similar treatment. Meanwhile, as it was noon GMT, the sun shone down from its peak of 57 degrees altitude, and boy was it warm. However, my suncream did its job and despite being out in it for several hours, I suffered no sunburn.

By now some small cumulus clouds were bubbling up and a light easterly breeze started, which combined made it feel a little more bearable. I have to say, ground frosts and sleet have never seemed further away, although I strongly suspect this'll be summer's last gasp - I'd be surprised to see as hot a weekend again this year.

There was then a discussion about the walk today, a special one in that the Euros were being taken out rather than Duma and Dakota. With the handlers sorted out and car duty assigned (my turn today), we were off to the woods, where today's guests were waiting for us. After spraying their laces with "Bitter Bite" it was time for the wolves to come out, and in typical fashion Alba sniffed at some blackberries then scent marked on them!

It was truly wonderful to see Alba, Lunca and Latea exploring the woods, something they've not seen for months. And it's true to say they behave completely differently when they're not on their own territory, happily letting the public stroke them during the "meet and greet" sessions.

Here we see the alpha male, Alba, looking especially ferocious:

And here's Lunca:

The woods were as I imagined today, not as hot as back at the Trust, but with clouds of dust rising into the air as people and wolves passed by.

However, at the head of the group there were no worries about dust, as this photo of the wolves and their handlers shows:

It was getting close to the time for me to zip back to the cars for my car watch duty, but before I left Lunca decided to roll in some smelly stuff - phew, she then gave off a really awful aroma. I wouldn't be surprised if no one went to stroke her after that... Wolves are known to roll in strong scent areas as part of their territorial instincts, but if I'd asked the wolf why she'd done that I'd not have got an answer!

A final shot of Lunca, then I went back to the cars, saying a quick "hello" to the woods' ranger en route. It was warm out there, but I'd say it was 25C or below. The thermometer in Dominic's Mini was reading 27C and 28C as we headed back to the Trust, although as car thermometers often over read I'm not too confident it was really that warm.

I tried getting shots of the Euro wolves playing in the enclosure, but just ended up with some lovely shots of the mesh. One of the few exceptions was this shot, showing what happened after the wolves had finished playing with one another:

After the visitors had gone, enough seniors and assistant senior handlers stayed back to allow another walk around the fields with Duma and Dakota. I have to admit I was interested in seeing what Duma had in store for me this week, and I didn't have long to find out.

At the end of the fields, there's a small stream. Hot wolves plus a small stream equals the obvious, and this time I decided to throw caution to the wind and allowed myself to be dragged into the water by a very eager Duma. After lapping up some water, we then walked along the stream, until a point which suddenly got a fair bit deeper, sending water cascading into my socks. Feeling more than a bit daft, I persuaded Duma to leave the water and the walk concluded without further incident - apart from the usual growls and snarls from Kodiak and Kenai, that is!

As I trundled along the driveway of Butlers Farm on the way home, the thermometer read 30C - maybe Mini thermometers are more accurate, as that would imply it really did get to 27C. That value of 30C stayed along the roads out of Beenham, and only slowly fell as I zipped through (a very clogged) Bracknell and onto the M3.

The M25 was wonderful for much of the run, and by the time I got to the M26 there was quite a headwind, with the typical whoosing noise of extra wind. The temperature fell from 25C to 19.5C from Maidstone to the Isle of Sheppey, and as I pulled up the real temperature was 17.5C with some scattered cloud. Since then, it's fallen below 16C, with quite an easterly breeze.

My next visit isn't for another two weeks, so while I'll really miss the wolves next Sunday, at least it's highly likely it'll be cooler the next time I see them.

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