Photo Blog: July 2023

July has been a good month with not a great deal of unusual things going on within the herd really – which is actually rather nice! The boys in the hill enclosure are generally eating lots and putting all their energy into growing lovely antlers and big bellies! Towards the middle of July the reindeer finally start to look themselves and some in particular look very smart in their short summer coats.

School holiday season is definitely upon us! We’ve got very busy with visitors, running three Hill Trips a day during weekdays and two on weekends. The Paddocks and Exhibition have also been popular and the reindeer here at the Centre have done a good job of ‘babysitting’ our two hand-reared calves (Winnie and Alba) overnight. They are now big enough to spend the daytime with the herd on the hill. This allows them to get some good exercise every day and lots of great grazing but they return each evening so they don’t miss out on their night time bottles of milk!

I’ve been lucky to see some of the free ranging females out on the hills too – all looked great and some stonking big calves out there. Well done mums, keep it up!

Hopefully the following photos will give more of an insight into what’s been going on this month.

3rd of July – Lupin and Bond relaxing after a Hill Trip.
4th of July – The herd heading up to the shed for a routine temperature check. We try to do this around once a week at this time of year.
5th of July – Sunny leading the herd through for their breakfast. What a good boy!
6th of July – Jelly strutting his stuff.
7th of July – 99 (named after the ice cream) is one of our leucistic reindeer. He was one of the first reindeer to moult into his smart summer coat and is in excellent condition.
10th of July – The herd on the move.
11th of July – Wafer and Haricot looking soggy after a wet morning.
13th of July – A hill walk on a day off and was lucky to bump into a herd of our free ranging cows and calves. This is three year old Turtle who was looking very well.
16th of July – Cicero, Andi and Scoop on a VERY wet morning harness training. Both boys happily grazing not fazed by the situation and Andi is still smiling despite the downpour!
17th of July – Sunny (last year’s hand-reared calf) still looking a bit scruffy!
18th of July – Alba and WInnie on their way up to “Reindeer School” for the day. They spend the evenings and nights here at the Centre in the Paddocks and the day time on the hill with the herd – good grazing and exercise.
20th of July – Yearlings Calippo and Kulfi.
23rd of July – So much antler! Morse, Spartan and Kernel.
25th of July – LX and Busby. I think they both thought they were missing out on their breakfast!
26th of July – Blue skies above the hill enclosure! Summer returned for a day!

Ruth

2 Replies to “Photo Blog: July 2023”

  1. Wow, what an incredible month it has been here at the Centre! Seeing all of the reindeer looking so happy and healthy on the hill is a really rewarding sight. It’s inspiring to see all the effort you and the reindeer have put in around the Centre to ensure that everyone is getting the best care and nutrition. Keep up the great work!

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