12z on the 9th- the warm front to the SW brought drizzle and rain for southern England during the afternoon. Conditions at 12PM on Sunday: Thickness, 546dam, temperature 9C(dewpoint 5C). Wind from the south, 18 MPH. Today's high, 11C, last night's low 6C. (source: MetO, the 12z GFS and NOAA).

For the first time in several months, I didn't post my daily weather analysis on the Web. The reason was that I was in Beenham, for my annual walk with the wolves - and yes, I know I'm always up there or so it seems, but this once a year event is special. Firstly it's a chance to enjoy the walk without worrying about car watch duty or serving teas back in the Obs Room, and secondly I had my Dad along. It was just under a year ago that I first visited the Trust and of course back then I didn't know anyone. A lot has changed in the past year and I felt proud of the Trust as I showed my guest around....

So, on Friday evening I set off along the motorway network and it was incredibly windy; my little Corsa was blown around a fair bit, resulting in suddenly moving a few inches sideways at times. Apart from that the journey to the hotel was uneventful, albeit with the wind howling away throughout.

Overnight there was some rain and as Saturday dawned the skies were clear with a strong wind persisting. I drove the short distance up the hill to the Trust and found that I wasn't the first there - I'd been beaten by Steve, one of the handlers. The European wolves soon started howling:

Latea.

As is often the case, the howling escalated into a full-blown rally, with the wolves jumping onto their kennels and milling around each other. They didn't spend long up there though as they spotted Steve heading towards the Obs Room. It then chucked it down, with some torrential rain and gale force winds for a time - the wolves took it in their stride, not even using their shelters.

Latea leads the way....

Others started to arrive and the cleaning got underway. This time I helped out with Duma and Dakota's enclosure, followed by the European wolf kennels aftwards. The latter had left some deer legs behind and they watched intently as I removed the food, probably wondering what I was doing to their cache!

With that out of the way it was time to prepare prepare the wolf trailer for Duma and Dakota. I was invited into their kennel area to help bring them in from the enclosure. All was going well, with the wolves coming over to the gate when all of a sudden an almighty gust of wind sprung up, leading to a loud, high picthed howling noise as it whistled past the enclosure. That spooked both wolves, although thanks to the efforts of Sue (one of the senior handlers for the day) they were soon coaxed into their kennel area.

I then headed off to the woods to meet with my Dad, then we waited for the wolves to arrive. One they'd been unloaded, Duma and Dakota set off at a brisk pace, keen to explore the woods (which were pretty muddy and windy!) The wind was a notable feature of the day, roaring away in the background. There didn't seem to be any trees down, but there were a few leaning at odd angles against others...

It may be January but already the wolves' hormones are kicking in, with the breeding season just around the corner. Scenes such as these were common, with Dakota "sucking up" to Duma:

The wolves had a brief swim and all too soon it was time to head back to the Trust. For once I joined in the tour of the enclosures, listening as facts were dispensed about the various wolves in the Trust's care. The tour ended with Kodiak and Kenai, both of whom seemed interested in the visitors.

Kodiak and Kenai.

As the visitors left, it was time for the trainees to go out around the fields with Duma and Dakota. I was lead around by the latter wolf, who was impeccably behaved. However, there was a surprise in store for after D&D were let back into their enclosure it was decided to give Kenai an outing. As you'll know if you've read previous "Wolves and Weather" articles I have a soft spot for said wolf, so I was delighted to see her coming out for a walk. Firstly though we had to distract Kodiak - I felt mean as I walked alongside the mesh with another volunteer to get his attention, but the trick always works.

Kenai went around scratching vigourously where Duma and Dakota had scent-marked, scraping almost angrily at the ground to overwrite their scent with her own. I was privileged to be given her lead and I was amazed anew at her strength - Kenai's ancient in wolf terms but has a heck of a lot of strength in her! We circled the field behind the Trust and headed back; not long after that I said goodbye to the wolves (and volunteers!) and left Butlers Farm.

To my utter delight there was a wedding reception at the hotel overnight, so I was treated to loud-mouthed people yelling out to each other until gone midnight - joy! Needless to say I was awake by half 5 in the morning, although this time I didn't have any charts or weather forums to browse. I listened to two guys next door yacking loudly to one another and by 9 decided enough was enough - I'd much rather listen to wolves, so I headed up to the Trust.

Today was a more typical day - the wolves were howling at the church bells as I arrived, then not long after that we started cleaning again; today it was the European wolf kennels. The wind, although gusty, was nowhere near as strong as yesterday.

Annoyingly, the wind was strong enough to muck up my recording of the wolves - here's a short clip to give you an idea of what it sounded like today, with a loud 'pop' removed...

http://www.medvale.net/wolves/05-01-08/bells.mp3

Duma.

The walk today was with the European wolves and as they were being rounded up I headed off to the woods for "spray" duty. This involves greeting the visitors and spraying some anti-dog spray on their shoelaces, in theory to discourage the wolves from gnawing them - they love dangly things! As I'd been on the walk yesterday, it seemed fair for me to do car watch duty, although as the Euros have a habit of "marking" people joining the walk halfway through I had 2 hours of time to fill.

After some abortive attempts to log onto TWO (my connection kept dropping after a minute or two, bah) I ended up playing Doom - and while I was doing that something else caught my attention. It was almost calm, when all of a sudden there was a great roaring noise amongst the trees. Then, out of nowhere, a ferocious gust of wind came along, lifting leaves and twigs high on a spiralling vortex of air. It only lasted a few seconds before calm returned, but as it was a warm front approaching I'm not really sure why it happened.

Back at the Trust Duma and Dakota were brought out for the visitors to "meet and greet", as the Euros decided they'd rather not stand still and be stroked today. The guests left and once again there was a training walk - and once again I took Dakota. Much like yesterday the walk was superb, although the weather wasn't! A gusty wind had picked up and it was drizzling, but it was far from cold. Once the walk had ended I was treated to something new, a lesson in handling the wolves' collars. For dog owners, they're "choke chains", albeit with some modifications - and as I'm not a dog owner the whole idea was new to me.

Dakota.

It was easy enough to remove the collar (unclipping a safety catch then sliding it over Dakota's head), but putting them on is a different prospect - there's a right way and a wrong way, the latter leading to the wolf strangling itself!

After that it was time to say goodbye again and begin the long trek back to Kent. It rained all the way home and great sheets of spray shone under the lights of the M25. It's also incredibly mild for January, 11.4C at 7 PM as I arrived here in Leysdown...

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