September is a beautiful time of year. The weather has been completely mixed this year – we’ve had the first snow on the plateau and then HOT summery temperatures! The reindeer also look fantastic with fully grown antlers and fresh winter coats growing through.
We’ve been doing lots of free range missions to bring in the cows and their calves which is always fun. The bulls and cows have been stripping the velvet and getting a wee bit more feisty and hormonal in preparation for the upcoming rut.
The calves have also been given a name but as always we don’t post any names online until our adopters have their newsletters. Maybe by next month’s photo blog!
I’m running away on holiday for the last week of September hence the photos stopping a wee bit early this month. I’ve selected a few more on other days to make up for it though! 😉
2nd of September: Cassie heading up to feed the free rangers, Dante looking back at the camera.3rd of September: Out on a free range mission! Came across 6 cows all looking super! It wasn’t going to be possible to move them by myself so I called for back-up from Reindeer House. Whilst I was waiting for Lisette to get to me, Juniper and I had a little rest!9th of September: Christie and her calf both looking great! Christie is a fairly phenomenal lass – she’s now had 4 big beautiful boys in a row and has enough extra energy to grow a super set of antlers.9th of September: Found these three gorgeous free rangers on the road so took them up to a nice spot away so as not to cause a traffic jam! From L to R we have Borlotti, Shannon and Turtle.11th of September: The first two faces I see on the hill – what a lovely way to start the day! Morse and Dr Seuss.11th of September: Morven looking good after a couple of years off motherhood. She’s grown her usual lovely set of antlers and will hopefully run with a bull this autumn.11th of September: Flax and her calf.12th of September: Isla and Cassie feeding the calves out of the bags. We do this to give the calves an extra bit of food before the greedy adults eat it all, and also to get them nice and tame the quickest way possible!12th of September: Flax starting to strip the velvet (see her pic from the day before!).12th of September: Our regular volunteer Emm leading Cowboy and Mivvi back into the hill enclosure. 13th of September: Sika is 16 years old, one of the oldest in the herd. She’s never had an adopter in her life until very recently!! She’s actually very shy but in recent years has cottoned on to the contents of our white feed bags. This is her licking her lips at the very thought of it!13th of September: Holy Moley decided to grace us with her presence. She was out free roaming but popped into the enclosure with a bunch of other cows looking for a free lunch!13th of September: It was a busy day for me. After the morning Hill Trip I went out on a reindeer retrieval mission! This is the gorgeous Fern. She’s 17 and the current oldest member of our herd.16th of September: Torch’s lovely calf chilling out in the sun!16th of September: Volunteer Emm and some of lovely ‘single ladies’! Mississippi, Scully (who may be Emm’s favourite in the herd but don’t tell the others that), Zambezi, and Nuii.17th of September: Athens looking very handsome!17th of September: Calves feeding out of the bag at the start of a Hill Trip.19th of September: A hot day when you’re in your winter coat! Adzuki cooling himself down by standing in a bog.22nd of September: Christie leading the herd out of the mist. To her right is Feta’s calf and Beanie.22nd of September: Feta’s calf is a chunky lad – he’s a lovely friendly lad.
By the end of July the reindeer finally start looking themselves after what seems like a very long moult. They’re now mostly in their short, sleek and darker summer coats and their lovely velvet antlers are looking amazing. It’s been a generally cold summer so far which the reindeer have enjoyed as it means less pesky flies to bother them.
We’ve been busy doing morning harness training sessions with the boys and carrying LOTS of feed up the hill as their appetite has ramped up – their putting all their energy into those growing lovely antlers and big bellies. Some of the free roaming females have been seen by other herders (sadly not me this month yet!) so no pics of them in this blog, but the ones who have been seen have all looked very well, I always love hearing who has been spotted! The office is busy with sorting out Crowdfunding rewards and the usual adoptions. Plus it’s now peak summer holidays so lots of fully-booked Hill Trips and a busy shop.
2nd of July: Ob and Nile and a very scruffy herd behind.2nd of July: Kernel already looking very smart in his summer coat.3rd of July: Amy with Adzuki harness training.4th of July: Jimmy looking curiously at my white bag.8th of July: Can’t resist this pic of Mr Whippy’s hairy hot pants! Sorry Mr Whippy for the unflattering photo – you’ll look fantastic once you’ve moulted. To add to the strange look, the yellow on his antlers is for sun protection.9th of July: Harness training on a beautiful morning!9th of July: Tub has forgotten to moult and is one of the hairiest reindeer in the herd at the moment.13th of July: A detective and inspector walk up a boardwalk… Sherlock and Morse first in line for food!13th of July: Elbe and herder Hannah.14th of July: I spent the morning at the hill farm feeding the reindeer there and also the pigs and these handsome Soay rams.16th of July: Jester and his enormous antlers.17th of July: Fiona feeding the herd their breakfast.22nd of July: Great to see Athens back in our hill enclosure after spending the first part of the summer at the Hill Farm with Tilly.23rd of July: Aztec (Athens’ big bro) is also back from the farm. Voted greediest reindeer in the herd in 2022 (see here) and I don’t think he’s lost the title!25th of July: Morse and Poirot chilling out together after the Hill Trip.
Our adult ‘Christmas reindeer’ (castrated males) are trained to harness at around 3 or 4 years old, so they can take part in a few events and parades in November and December each year, bringing in part of the income that then supports the herd for the rest of the year. About 25 of our males are trained so this enables them to take their turn at events, most of which are at weekends, and no-one is overworked at Christmas time (except, perhaps, us…)! Between weekends all the reindeer are back on the mountainside getting some good grazing and some downtime.
What happens during a training session? This photo blog will hopefully give you a taster of what we get up to during afternoons in October and early November here in Glenmore in preparation for Christmas tour.
These photos have all been collated over the past few days over several training sessions involving different reindeer and reindeer herders.
Step 1: Ready the sleigh! Here Lisette and Sheena are unloading the sleigh and trace. We also get the harness all laid out, ready to put straight on.Step 2 (a): Retrieve your reindeer! We bring down reindeer from the hill enclosure and they spend a short spell in the Paddocks whilst we undertake sleigh training. At least two of the adults will be highly experienced sleigh-pullers who show the new recruits how it’s done. Here is a Christmas team (four adults and two calves) chilling in the Paddocks just before a training session.Step 2 (b): Catching the slightly shyer reindeer in order to put halters on often involves a bucket of lichen! Thankfully their greed usually wins them over very quickly.Step 3: Reindeer are caught, herders are attached to their ropes and off we go… Athens is the owner of the very wide antlers closest to the camera.Step 4: Take them for a wee walk and jog to get rid of any extra energy they may have before putting their harness on.Step 5 (a): Harness gets put on outside the shop. The “trainer” is the most experienced reindeer who stands next to the less experienced reindeer. In this photo 8-year-old Scolty is teaching 4-year-old Athens that all is calm and there’s nothing to worry about whilst Hen puts on their harness. Step 5 (b): With Scolty’s harness on, it’s now Athens’s turn.Step 5 (c): Reindeer like to be together in herds so whilst Scolty and Athens are getting their harness on the other boys and calves are right behind, patiently waiting for their turn.Step 5 (d): After getting used to wearing a halter and going for wee walks around Glenmore, we can put harness on the calves too. Having their heads in a bucket of tasty lichen definitely helps the process! This is 6-month-old Yangtze having harness on for the very first time – completely unfazed!Step 6: Once all reindeer are wearing their harness we go for another short walk to give the reindeer the opportunity to get used to their bells and how everything feels. Alba is the calf at the back wearing her harness for the second time.Step 7: Attach the two sleigh-pulling reindeer to the ‘trace’. Here Frost is closest to the camera. The trace then gets attached to the sleigh.Step 8: The four ‘back reindeer’ now get tied to the sleigh. Here Sheena is at the back with Morse and Jelly (both of whom have cast their antlers already). The calves are sandwiched between the big boys to make them feel safe.Step 9 (a): All attached and ready to go! But Clouseau is asleep already!Step 9 (b): Off we go! Here we have Clouseau pulling closest to camera, and Frost at the back.Step 9 (b): The view from behind – lots of lovely bottoms! Along with the two herders who walk at the front and back of the sleigh, one person walks ahead and one person walks behind in hi-vis slowing down any traffic.Step 10: Having a pause. Practicing patience is equally as important as practicing walking. Here Lupin is closest to the camera and is doing a super job for his 4th ever go at pulling the sleigh.Step 11: Add weight to the sleigh! If we have a fifth person helping us out, we sometimes get them to sit in the sleigh to make sure the front reindeer are actually pulling. On a real event they will have Father Christmas in the sleigh who can weigh quite a lot!Step 12: All done for Lupin and Clouseau – time to get unattached from the trace. At this point, we usually switch the back boys to the front so all four adults can have a go at being the sleigh pullers.Step 13: Once all the reindeer have had their go and we’re back at the Centre then the harness can come off, and the boys do their “Christmas shake”! Step 14: Back to the Paddocks they go! Well done boys and herders! The adults usually have around three or four goes of this over several days and then head back to the hills. Such wonderful animals to work with!
Other than the few reindeer still out free-ranging who I haven’t seen lately, I’ve otherwise managed to get nice ‘adopt’ photos of everyone in the herd in the last few weeks. These photos are to go on the certificates that go out to all the lovely people who support us by adopting a reindeer, and as autumn is when reindeer look at their best, it is therefore when I take all the photos.
I realise (after sitting down to write this) that I’ve actually written a blog about photos before (to be fair, that was 5 years ago and I have a rubbish memory at times…) but hey, what’s wrong with repetition?! But actually I thought I’d just show you some of the ‘outtake’ photos, ‘cos everyone likes to see photos of reindeer looking daft, don’t they?
Most photos that don’t make the grade are just because of open mouths or closed eyes:
Beastie
Camembert
A classic of Merida from a couple of years ago!
But after my trip over to our farm last month to photograph the reindeer there, I realised that I’d mainly just taken photos of Olympic looking ridiculous!
Possibly my favourite…
Then there’s just the odd ones:
Morven looking like she’s just remembered something she’d rather forget…
Looking attractive, Athens!
Background? Check. Good light? Check. Camera in focus? Check. Dr Seuss looking handsome and majestic? Che… oh. No.
Reindeer often need encouragement to look alert for their photo, with ears pricked. This results in my photography assistant (Andi) doing a lot of dancing in the background while making a lot of noise, or sprinting back and forth shaking a feed bag…
…resulting in photos like this, where there’s been crossed wires about which reindeer I’m actually trying to photograph at the time…
And sometimes we resort to throwing things at the reindeer (well, nearby anyway) to get their attention!
Horse many years ago, steadfastly ignoring us.
Most of the time it seems, this is what the reindeer think of me and my camera!
Emm volunteers with us several times a year usually, and has been doing so for years now. Here’s her story of working in the summer and autumn seasons! Her recent blog about the winter and spring can be found here.
Summer
In summer I have been up in both July and August. The visitors are meeting the male reindeer in the hill enclosure. The female reindeer and the calves are free ranging on the Cairngorm Mountains.
The reindeer’s antlers have done the majority of their growth and the velvet is getting ready to strip away at the end of August. The reindeer are looking smart in their dark summer coats.
Dr Seuss and Pratchett in the hill enclosure
The weather can be hot in the summer. The flies bother the reindeer by flying noisily around them, sometimes the reindeer rush around to try to get away from the flies which tend to sit on their antlers as they can sense the blood supply in their growing antlers. We spray the reindeer’s antlers with citronella spray to protect them from the flies. Midges are also a problem in the summer for both reindeer and humans.
Monopoly in his summer coat
In one part of the enclosure, the reindeer have access to a shed for shade. One time when we got up there with the visitors, the reindeer were nowhere in sight. All 41 of them had gone into the small shed. The shed doesn’t look like it can fit 41 reindeer in but it is does, it is like a Doctor Who’s Tardis. One Hill Trip, I was herding them out of the shed, I realised that I hadn’t seen Blue – I found him in a small part of the shed asleep. Blue, who was deaf, didn’t hear his reindeer friends move on. The reason Blue was deaf is because he was leucistic (pure white with blue eyes). Leucism is a condition in which there is partial loss of pigmentation. Leucistic reindeer are camouflaged in the snow.
Selfie with Glenshee, back in 2016
There are three Hill Trips a day (during the week) in the hill enclosure and last year we did ‘Summer Fun’ in the Paddocks which involved feeling the weight of antlers, feeling the weight of a feed sack, Paddock reindeer talks and much more fun (N.B. This will return in 2021!). Reindeer House is busier as the seasonal summer staff are working as there is a lot going on with three Hill Trips a day and Summer Fun in the Paddocks.
One of the jobs in the summer is to water the garden as it is hot.
Last July, Olympic would stand by the gate like he was guarding it and wouldn’t let visitors out of hill enclosure. I kept having to go over to him and move him on.
Olympic
Autumn
In the Autumn, I normally come in October half term. The scenery is changing with leaves changing colour and leaves falling off the trees.
The reindeer’s winter coat is growing and most of the velvet has stripped off revealing the hard bone antler underneath.
It is the rutting and breeding season. Normally in different areas of the hill enclosure there is a bull with his girls. My two favourite breeding bulls are Houdini and Kota as they have massive magnificent antlers. When we feed the breeding bulls with their girls we have to be careful as they can be protective over their girls. We don’t take the visitors in with the bulls and their girls.
Breeding bull Kota
We do one Hill Trip a day in the hill enclosure. Normally in the afternoons we do sleigh training with the ‘Christmas reindeer’. We put the harnesses on them and harness them up to the sleigh. The reindeer pull the sleigh around Glenmore (where the Reindeer Centre is based). They even go on the road. It is so funny to see people’s faces when they drive past reindeer pulling a sleigh.
Sleigh training
We also get to handle the calves to get them used to people. We sometimes take them on a walk around Glenmore in the morning.
Calves Athens and Helsinki in October 2019
I am busy learning the calves names and if I hadn’t been up in May, I am learning which calf belongs to who and meeting all of them. The calves are also getting their new ear tags.
One year, I was lucky enough to help out at a early Christmas parade at the very start of November which was very special. It was at The Cairngorm Mountain. We wore red Christmas jumpers and woolly hats with reindeer on them. The reindeer team were Mo, Spike, Sooty, Aonach and calves Morse and Poirot. Mo and Spike pulled the sleigh with Santa in it. It was so wet and so windy. The wind was 60 miles per hour. Santa was holding his hat on in the sleigh. Not many people turned up. We had to tie things on to the pen railings otherwise they would have flown away.
Holding Mo and Spike after the parade
One of the other jobs in the autumn is to sweep up the leaves. At 4 o’clock it is starting to get dark. So we put the Paddock light on in the Paddocks so the visitors can still see the reindeer. When we put the reindeer to ‘bed’ in the woods and give them their tea, I normally put my head torch on.
My 2 Favourite Seasons
I have two favourite seasons which are autumn and spring.
Sleigh training with Slioch and North
In the autumn, I love doing the Christmas sleigh training, helping the calves get used to being handled, learning the calves names and seeing the reindeer with their newly formed antlers.
With the cows and calves
In the spring, I love seeing the newly born calves, seeing the reindeer being mums and hearing the grunts between mum and calf.
From January to May, our whole herd are out roaming free on the mountains, enjoying the wintry weather that they’re so well-equipped for. Whilst it can be ridiculously wild at times, on other days it is completely still, with glorious sunshine. I thought it would be nice to put up a selection of photos from the last month or two to give you a taste of our winter days…
Oslo leading the herd over for breakfast.
Glorious views out over Aviemore on a beautiful day.
Camus, Sika, Brie and Bordeaux. Sika’s not sure about what she just ate!
Origami and the herd on an icy morning.
Ochil wondering if the food is ready yet
Okapi has cast the main uprights of her antlers, leaving her looking a bit like a unicorn!
Spider has found a nice pool for an after dinner drink.
Santana sporting one of her antlers.
Handsome Rubiks posing!
Pavlova is easily recognised with her white tuft of hair on her forehead.
Parmesan with her white face marking, and old lass Fonn in the background.
Olympic is always one of the first to see us.
LX on a grey day…
… and again on a blue sky day!
Fonn is the oldest reindeer in the herd, at nearly 17 years old.
Ryvita and her calf Berlin.
Beautiful Dixie.
Dixie, Fly and Lulu, stalwarts of the herd.
Young Dante.
Camembert, what a star!
Brie, Inca and Meadow.
We always give the calves some preferential feeding out of the bags – it keeps their condition up and keeps them tame – here’s Bordeaux, Florence, Athens and Texel enjoying a snack.
Blyton and Camembert.
Baffin.
Angua and mum Tap. Both are quite shy reindeer but we’ve put lots of effort into feeding them extra feed each day and their confidence has come on in leaps and bounds.
