(Originally posted 25/3/16 at Studying Seals: Elana’s Wolf Behaviour Research)
So, I return from fieldwork and reclaim my life as the hobbit, living within my hobbit hole – or as the rest of my team call it, our research office! Living outside for weeks on end for fieldwork makes the task of enduring a life within four walls somewhat daunting…..like a wild animal taken from its place of grandeur, where it once roamed free, to then be seized by hardened hands and thrown into barren confinement……so, off to High Force I went!!
High Force waterfall, in the North Pennines, Forest-in-Teesdale. Picture of where the water comes from…… (Photo credit: ER Hobkirk)
…….to where the water goes…..on it’s journey…… (Photo credit: ER Hobkirk)
Sitting at the top of a raging waterfall watching the water effervesce like an ice cold volcano, with wisps of white and orange blending into one another as they cut through the very rock trying to hold them back, carving an imaginative sculpture into the landscape on which I sat…..the roar of the water drowning the sounds of the Pennine backdrop, as if I was standing next to a woofer at a Motorhead gig! Serenity, peace, relief……the touch of the emotionless wind as it caressed my skin while it travelled on to new heights…..just me, the elements and my thoughts……how I miss being surrounded by wolves each day..…
Mai snoozing the day away…….peaceful wolf, peaceful mind, peaceful soul…… (Photo credit: ER Hobkirk)
Tala….. (Photo credit: M Collins and ER Hobkirk)
Nuka….. (Photo credit M Collins and ER Hobkirk)
Tundra on the move……wolves, built for endurance…… (Photo credit: ER Hobkirk)
Then it occurred to me – why should we only blog about our doings while on fieldwork? Why must we only write about our time away from the office? Yes, the fieldwork is the main fun part, but back in the office watching videos you took at the time opens your eyes to a wealth of things you missed during fieldwork (and a whole host of embarrassing things you said and did while the camera was rolling!!); this is the point of taking video footage, so I believe it is fitting to share this part of my ‘wolfy’ journey with you, and thus give you a sense of just how much work is involved in research, because not all is what it seems……
Embarrassing photo of me trying to scribble notes down in my field book!
Caught off-guard gazing at wolves from the watchtower! Sometimes you just gotta look and appreciate things without looking through a lens……
Researching Wolves 