6z today - Kent lies under a weak ridge, with clear skies and light winds. Conditions at 12PM on Monday: Thickness, 536dam, temperature 4C(dewpoint 2C). Wind from the west, 5 MPH. Today's high, 5C, last night's low -2C. (source: MetO, the 6z GFS and NOAA).

WildWood update: For the latest on WildWood's wolves, including video clips, see the Christmas 2005 "Wolves and Weather" article here.

I was originally going to post this as an addendum to yesterday's "Wolves and Weather" article, but it's quite long and IMO deserved a seperate post.

Back in 1998 the UKWCT decided as the organisation is primarily concerned with European wolves, it would be a good idea to obtain some European wolves, with the aim of showing our native wolf to people rather than just the usual American ones. However, nowhere in the UK had any European wolves so three were imported from Eastern Europe - they were named Apollo, Luna and Athena. I'm sure the customs inspectors at the port of Dover had a big surprise when they investigated the trailer containing them!

The wolves were quarantined at the Trust and proved to be wary of humans, certainly nowhere near as comfortable around them as the other wolves. They bred in spring 1999 and there were six pups born - Alba, Lunca and Letea (who remained at the Trust and were hand-reared). Letea was called Latea by pretty much everyone and that's the name used today.

The other pups were Luana (who went to the Paradise wildlife park and has since died) and two others, one of whom was stillborn and the other died shortly after birth.

After a few months the wolves' parents were sent to WildWood, a nature park near Herne in Kent. The park specialises in native English wildlife and the wolves were well received there. Herne is but a stone's throw away from here, 7 miles as the crow flies - but to go by road is 35 miles or so.

Anyway, last year I went along to see the wolves there, but it was a miserable day with heavy rain and certainly not a good day for watching wolves!

And so it was that today I set off to see the wolves again....

The day dawned with clear skies and a thick frost, adding to yesterday's frost in the shade. The air temperature was higher than yesterday, but at -2C it meant there was a lot of scraping to be done!

View to the NW, Leysdown, 0930z

The roads were all but deserted and although I arrived at WildWood a couple of minutes after opening time, there were already some visitors ahead of me. Thankfully (from my point of view) they headed off in the opposite direction from the wolves, meaning I was able to approach the wolves quietly.

There are two main enclosures at WildWood, a large (and muddy) one containing most of the wolves and a smaller seperate one with two female wolves. These were hand-reared and presumably is why they're kept seperate. All the wolves at WildWood are decended from Apollo and Luna, who are both still there today (along with Athena).

Anyway, the two hand-reared sisters, Michka and Nadja certainly gave an enthusiastic welcome! I was expecting some wary glances but instead both wolves charged over to the fence, tails wagging, and jumped up...

I was wearing the same coat and boots that I used yesterday while cleaning the Euro's quarters in Beenham and I strongly suspect they could smell their sibling's scent on me. After having a good old sniff they then rubbed up against the mesh - at the Trust that's taken as an invitation to stroke them, but of course I couldn't do that at WildWood.

The wolves looked very similar to Lunca and Latea, but considering they're sisters I guess that's no surprise! The two wolves had a clear dominance order as well, with one of them holding her tail up for most of the time; indeed as I was leaving she gave a snarl and grabbed the other one much as the wolves at the Trust do.

After that it was on to the main enclosure. I crept along trying to be as quiet as I could, but one of the wolves spotted me and jumped (literally), then the whole pack scooted off to the other side of the enclosure. Nuts!

However, one wolf remained behind and as I stood by a viewing window some other wolves came back, somewhat warily.

I then went further around the enclosure and another wolf approached me:

Unlike last year, it was sunny throughout my time at WildWood and there was plenty of ice to be seen. One of the wolves spotted something in the ice and fished around in a puddle:

Generally the main pack was far, far more cautious than the two hand-reared wolves and the wolves at the Trust. However, if you're patient they'll come over to you, although this picture shows a more typical view:

Anyway, after a quick visit around the rest of the park I headed back for home, having spent a happy couple of hours visiting wolves that I've not seen in ages. On the way back there were some superb views of Sheppey from the A299, bathed in sunlight - and as with yesterday there's still plentiful frost in the shade.

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