| 3rd July 2005 |
 |
A cold front covers southern and eastern England, bringing large amounts of cloud. Conditions at 12z
(1PM BST): |
Today started off much as most of the summer has so far - clear blue skies, no wind and feeling humid. The overnight low was 12C and by the time I left some altocumulus was spreading across the sky, with temperatures around 15C.
I headed westwards and arrived at the wolf centre just before nine o'clock, having driven through some light rain along the M4. After a June which saw a puny 15mm of rain in my part of Kent (most of that at the start of the month), I'd almost forgotten what rain looks like!
Duma and Dakota were in amongst the tall grass in their enclosure and I went up to see them. This time the sisters didn't come over together, so this time I filmed Duma's approach. This video clip demonstrates quite nicely how a wolf approaches something they're uncertain about:
http://www.medvale.net/wolves/05-07-03/july.mpg (10 seconds, 1.8MB)
To begin with Duma's noticed she's being watched and moves slowly, cautiously, ears pricked. She peeks over the grass then slowly edges past the pole. As she rounds the corner realisation sets in, her ears go back in the "greeting" position and her tail starts wagging! By the time she reaches me Dakota has approached from the right and both wolves take a good sniff once they reach the fence.
After a quick greeting the wolves headed back into their enclosure, blending into the long grass.
Duma and Dakota - view to the west, 0815z
I went back to the Obs Room and chatted with the others, while the Euros howled away outside.
Lunca and Latea after howing
Soon it was time to do some cleaning. This week it was Kodiak and Kenai, who hadn't made too much of a mess. Not long after that the elderly wolves were coaxed into the side enclosure, with Kodiak racing after me as I zoomed along the path. This wasn't to entertain the wolves, rather to put them in a smaller area while we worked inside their enclosure.
Much of the day was spent in there, hacking and slashing at dock plants and thistles. Here's where the obscure tool mentioned in the title comes in, as we were given these:
It looks a bit like a sickle, but it's properly called a "reaping hook". The idea is that you flick your wrist and it scythes through plants and cuts them off near their base - just the thing for the weeds. However, despite being a dab hand with modern technology I couldn't get the hang of the archaic device and ended up slashing furiously to cut the stuff. However, a bit later John (our senior for the day) came over, took the reaping hook from me and slashed away madly, clearing a large area in just a few seconds - and despite being told it's all down to wrist action rather than your arm I still couldn't get it working properly. In the end I used a large pair of shears to do the same job, as at least I know how they work!
We took a couple of breaks and during one of those we paid some attention to Kodiak and Kenai, who'd been watching us with interest. Kodiak looks really sleek now he's moulted and despite being ancient in wolf terms he looks very impressive still. Kenai's still moulting and looks somewhat less sleek as a result!
Kodiak being stroked, not by me though - he may grump
and growl at his friends, but he seems to enjoy the
company really.
Kodiak and Kenai
As the afternoon wore on the clouds broke, the sun came out and the humidity dropped, suggesting the cold front had cleared through. It was completely dry at the Trust, but as I headed home I drove through drizzle at Bracknell and I watched as the temperature rose from 17C there to 22C on the Island, which still feels muggy and is overcast now.
The next update will be a bit different from the others, as I'm helping at the Kent Show from the 14th-17th July - it's the culmination in a dream I've had for the past seven years, so needless to say I'm really looking forward to it!
As usual, further information about the wolves and the Trust is available on the UKWCT website, as well as in the Wolves and Weather archives.
Back to the index