| 15th May 2005 |
 |
A weak ridge
covers southern England, with very light winds. Conditions at 12z (1PM
BST): |
Today dawned with clear blue skies and not a breath of wind. The overnight low was 4.1C but by the time I was up and about it had already reached 7C. The sun continued to shine as I headed westwards across Kent, Surrey and into Berkshire and by the time I pulled up at the wolf centre the sun was starting to feel quite strong.
The gates were locked but I didn't have to wait long - John, our safety person, came along a few minutes later and opened the gate. He left soon after, meaning I had the Trust to myself. After opening the blinds in the Obs Room I went outside to see the European wolves by the fence - then, just a couple of feet away, Alba lifted his head and let out a long howl, with his sisters joining in.
The wolves look slightly scruffy at this time of year as they're in the middle of moulting - here's a view of Alba howling, with my trusty Psion 5mx sitting on the stand-off barrier.
Needless to say I decided to record the howling, which was pretty loud as the wolves were so close! There are some unusual harmonics involved as well; if you use WinAMP and select the frequency analysis visualisation you'll see some perfect sine waves.
http://www.medvale.net/wolves/05-05-15/may.mp3
(1:54, 1.1MB)
The wolves then lay down in the long grass and I headed along to see Duma and Dakota. Once again my plans to record them galloping towards me were foiled as they heard me coming - I've only managed to sneak up on them once! Both wolves were as friendly as ever and crouching there on a sunny spring morning made me appreciate just how lucky I am to be involved with the Trust...
FInally I went down to see Kodiak and Kenai, the elderly couple. Kenai obviously remembered the hotdogs she had a couple of weeks ago as she zoomed over, tail wagging and pawed at the mesh:
We've recently found out that Kodiak is her full brother rather than a half-brother as we'd thought - either way, he was displaying his usual low-level threat posture, tail half raised and ears pricked forward. Kenai continued to show her effusive greeting expression:
The sun was still shining as I headed back to the Obs Room, having heard the noise of tyres on gravel coming from the driveway. The other volunteers for the day were arriving and before long we divided into groups to do the cleaning. This time I chose Kodiak and Kenai's kennels and a new volunteer joined us all - it was fun showing her the ropes!
Both wolves had soiled their straw, meaning a good deal of scrubbing was needed - it doesn't sound very thrilling but I enjoy doing it, not least because the wolves themselves take a keen interest in what we're doing!
Once the cleaning was done we discussed today's walk, once again with Duma and Dakota. Due to the large number of handlers today some were asked to stay back and help with painting the kennels - the rest of us headed off to the woods which looked wonderful in the strong sunshine. I was on car watch duty, which gave me time to admire the woods:
As the sun was so strong I decided it would look daft if I carried on wearing my coat, so I reluctantly applied suncream. I hate that stuff, as it's oily and gooey, but without I'd burn to a crisp within 15 minutes.
Halfway through the walk my replacements arrived and I darted into the woods, stopping to admire the lake:
The wolves, meanwhile, were going around the edge of the lake and a few minutes later Dakota jumped into the water:
Rather than taking the obvious route back to the wolves, I decided on a more adventurous route, ploughing through the bracken to approach the wolves from above. When I eventually forged my way through to the crowd both wolves were watching me intently - apparently they'd been tracking me through the undergrowth, rotating slowly as I approached.
I then had the oppertunity to handle Dakota for the remainder of the walk and she was as wonderful as ever, although she paused a few times to chomp on some grass.
A photo of Duma earlier on the walk.
Back at the centre things went much as usual, although with the sun beating down it felt really summery! Indeed, sitting under a parasol later in the day and chatting about all sorts of things made it seem a world away from the offices in which I've spent some time of late.
Next Sunday there's nothing going on, so for once I'll not be heading westwards. No doubt I'll still be thinking of wolves though....
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