The Day I Fed A Wolf...

 My birthday is in December, a rubbish time to have a birthday as it can get swallowed up by Christmas.  Plus people have to think about getting you two presents, which can prove difficult.  But last birthday Mr.B managed to give me one of the best presents ever - a day behind the scenes at the UK Wolf Conservancy.  The only trouble was, I had to wait until May!  But it was so worth it! 

 We got a tour of the place, all round the perimeter of the enclosures whilst having a very interesting talk by one of the volunteers.  The Arctic wolves were shedding - I got given a clump of this wolf's hair which is now a prized possession.

We got to have a go at telemetry, finding a radio collar in a large field.  We made enrichment 'toys' from scented straw & hessian sacks and gave them to the wolves.  We got to take photos through special holes in the wire that the general public do not have access to.  And we got to hand feed the wolves!  I volunteered to feed Nuka, the wolf I spent many hours painting a portrait of earlier this year.

It was a very special moment for me.

Sadly, this was probably the last time we will be visiting the wolves.  Since the escape of Torak, one of the older wolves, in the winter, the place has become too popular for it's own good and cannot handle the amount of visitors that turn up.  That, combined with the fact that the wolves are now getting quite old, they have decided to shut the doors to the public and give the wolves a peaceful retirement.  They will still continue their very worthy work towards conservation of wolves in the wild.

I'm just so happy we managed to get to see them close up and personal while we could.

What Have You Been Up To?

 Although I've been quiet here, it's been a busy week at home.  The grape vine in the garden has once again produced a bumper crop, so I picked about half of the grapes and made some grape jelly.  I wasn't too sure of what to do with the rest - I don't think we can eat any more grape jelly, so I though I would boil them down to syrup in the Greek fashion and try to make some mustakouloura (must flavoured biscuits.) Got to do something with them as the dog keeps eating the ones that fall.

 We've paid another visit to the UK Wolf Trust, this time with decent cameras.  I was very pleased to have got some great shots with no wire fencing showing up.

 It was a bit of a blustery day with the odd rain shower, but we stayed for an hour or so and notched up over 300 photos between us.

So I have plenty of reference material for the winter months should the paid work dry up!

I've been knitting & stitching a couple of things...for the little animation that goes with this year's Knitting & Stitching Show.  Watch it here and see if you can spot my sewing machine and poodle!

Wolfy Wednesday...

 We've had this trip planned for weeks - the UK Wolf Conservation Trust, near Reading.

 A wonderful, gentle day out, looking at wolves, having a picnic in the sun.

 Lots of photos opportunities, but my camera was having none of it - most of the pictures are of perfectly focussed wire and fuzzy wolves.  We will just have to go back when I have a decent camera...

Lunch for the wolves - chunks of muntjac.  Seemed to go down well!