A ridge to the west leads to a NW'ly flow over the UK, while a kink in the isobars shows a weak trough over southern England. Conditions at 12z (1PM BST): Thickness, 551dam, temperature 19C (dewpoint 11C). Wind from the NW, 13 MPH. Sunday's high, 20C, Saturday night's low 12C (source: MetO, the 12z GFS and NOAA)

During the early hours of yesterday morning it chucked it down, so much so that the roar of the rain on the roof woke me up. I dozed after that and by the time I got up a couple of hours later the rain had stopped. It stayed dry most of the way as I headed westwards, with the exception of a shower in Bracknell.

At the Trust the gate was locked, but before long a new volunteer turned up - she'd taken less time than expected to drive from Bristol. After chatting for a while John (the senior for the day) arrived and let us in. Kirsty, the newcomer, was given a whistle-stop tour of the Trust which involved seeing the wolves being let out. To my delight I was able to let Duma and Dakota out and both wolves paid little attention to me as they went into their enclosure (with some food in their jaws).

I helped with cleaning Duma and Dakota's quarters, which weren't that dirty (although they'd left some fatty bits of meat behind). After that it was time to help with raking up grass in Kodiak and Kenai's enclosure, with both wolves in the holding area, out of harm's way.


Kodiak
Unlike last week it was largely cloudy and with a brisk NW'ly breeze it felt quite refreshing - certainly much more pleasant to work in than hot sunshine! Before too long I was called to the pre-walk safety briefing back in the Obs Room, where the upcoming walk was discussed.

As usual I headed down to the woods to meet the guests (along with Angela, another regular at the Trust). Right on cue, just after saying that it should be staying dry, it started to rain. As a result pretty much all the visitors put on coats and jackets, something they probably regretted once the sun came out later!


Duma and Dakota in the woods

It was a busy outing in the woods for me as I spent much of the time acting as a backup handler or handling Duma. There are always two people with each wolf so as to spot potential problems (such as crisp packets) in advance, or in case the person handling trips.

Somewhat unusually I have some videos from the walk, but be warned they're quite large!

First up, Duma and Dakota in the lake:


http://www.medvale.net/wolves/05-08-14/walk1.mpg
(MPEG-1 format, 52 seconds, 9M)

Then a bit later on Dakota decides to scent mark. She's not using urine this time, rather scraping the ground with her paws. Wolves have scent glands in their paws (and they also sweat through them, which means they have quite a strong smell anyway!).



http://www.medvale.net/wolves/05-08-14/walk2.mpg
(MPEG-1 format, 23 seconds, 4M)

Once the walk was over it was back to the centre for the visitors to have some refreshments and see the other wolves:


The Euros - Lunca and Latea are nearest the camera


Kenai

Once the visitors had left I gathered my belongings and set off for home, driving through some torrential rain at times. So much for it being a mostly dry day!

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