The last photo blog of the year! I’ve actually been rather rubbish at taking photos this month as it’s just been so busy (and rather dark with the shortest days of the year) but here’s a wee look at some of the pics I’ve taken on my phone over the past few weeks.
Christmas events went well with teams making us all very proud. Hill Trips have been mostly sold old for weeks (well done if you got tickets) and Christmas Fun was mostly sold out too – it’s been great to see so many people enjoying the brand-new Exhibition and folks getting to meet Santa! Meanwhile up on the hill the reindeer have all been well and unaware of the slight frazzled state of the herders down at the Centre.
Enjoy the photos and Merry Christmas! A big thank you to all who have read the blog over the last 12 months.
4th of December: Brie is having a wonderful end to 2025 free ranging in the hills.4th of December: Another reindeer from the ‘Cheese’ year! Feta is also having a wonderful time out free ranging. She’s grown a cracking set of antlers this year.5th of December: Ceilidh coming over to see if there is any spare food for her.6th of December: Santa is here!9th of December: Tub on a very soggy day.10th of December: Moving the free ranging herd – easiest way to get them to where we wanted was just to walk up the road! Old girl Ryvita leading the way.13th of December: The ‘Christmas Fun’ team for the day – Sherlock, Stenoa, Bond, Charleston and Quickstep.14th of December: Leading a team of reindeer off the hill ready for their event at Landmark – Lupin and Magnum at the front.15th of December: Ballet and Sorbet.15th of December: These boys have all been superstars on Christmas events this season – Jester, Busby and Dr Seuss. 16th of December: Disco and her beautiful mum Dante.16th of December: Lochi and Beanie. 16th of December: Marple and her son Mosh. He’s such a cheeky wee thing!19th of December: The herd coming in for their breakfast. 23rd of December: Lochi being all cute. 23rd of December: Salsa lying down after a Hill Trip.23rd of December: The handsome Zoom.
As I sit down to write this blog the current newsletter, October 2025, has just arrived at the Reindeer Centre from the printers and will be packed up and sent out over the next few days! The newsletter gets posted out to our wonderful reindeer adopters in June and October each year. This gave me the idea to dig out some of our old newsletters to see how much, or little, has changed. So here’s extracts from the newsletter 20 years ago – in October 2005.
The ‘featured reindeer’ on the front page 20 years ago was Shekel, a friendly ‘Christmas reindeer’. Shekel was part of the herd, long before I became a reindeer herder, but I’ve certainly heard of his name, meaning he must’ve been a big character! He certainly sounds it – if you can’t read the article below (sorry, if it’s too small!) it describes him as “a very tame and greedy reindeer who certainly isn’t shy and took to harness like a duck to water”. He went on to live to 10 years old, a fair age for a male reindeer.
Shekel was a very handsome fella!Extract from the October 2005 newsletter.
This October’s ‘featured reindeer’ is (…spoiler alert!…) an old boy called Stenoa, born in 2012. He’s a strong, well-built lad and always one of the first on the feed line. In his day he was a steady sleigh puller but now is enjoying retirement! I never met Shekel, so can’t be sure, but they both sound fairly similar to me!
Stenoa looking handsome in 2021.
The next article made me laugh as not much has changed at all. I’d say the only differences these days is that we no longer do a big tour of the whole of the UK, mostly just staying much closer to home in Scotland. And of course, we no longer use a “local phone book” to find a telephone number we’re after! Otherwise, nothing has changed. We still use afternoons in the autumn to sleigh train our new recruits alongside the older boys who have done it lots before. In 2005 there were 10 reindeer to train, and I believe this year it’s a fairly similar number which will include Scoop, Calippo, Kulfi, Zoom, Kernel, Sherlock, Spartan and Morse.
A wee article all about sleigh training – something which happens to this day, in a very similar fashion!Poirot learning how to pull the sleigh in 2022 with Lisette at the front.
Another little article also made me smile about two reindeer called Mystery and Mystique. It says “150 reindeer and we know them all individually by name. That’s true… well nearly true because this year a strange reindeer turned up who none of us can put a name too.” Hopefully you’ll be able to read the article below but in a nutshell – a little female reindeer turned up who couldn’t be accounted for so was later named Mystique!
Another wee article all about two mysterious reindeer from October 2005.Mystique in September 2011.
Whilst I’ve been a reindeer herder over the past 8 years ish (on and off), I’ve not known this to happen as such, although there’s a few reindeer which certainly got us guessing as to their origins. In summer 2023 Andi was out checking the herd on the free range and discovered Brie with a calf. Huh?! We didn’t run her with a bull last autumn? That was a surprise! Bond turned up in the autumn of 2018 as a four month old calf without a mother. By process of elimination the herders worked out that his mother must have been Lairig, who sadly died in September 2018.
Bond in Autumn 2018 when he turned up without a mother (and any antlers!) – who do you belong to?!
June is the scruffy reindeer month! Perhaps, not their most photogenic season but still a wonderful time of year and I still managed to take lots of photos of course to fill the monthly photo blog . The cows and calves are all free ranging in the hills and we have around half our males in our hill enclosure here, growing lovely antlers and meeting our visitors.
1st of June: Elbe still with almost a full winter coat, but you can see the short summer coat around his eyes and on his nose. The ears back look is very common in Elbe’s family. His twin sister Alba also often has the same ears back rather grumpy expression! 3rd of June: Dr Seuss with his pink nose! Every June his old winter coat falls out completely before his summer coat grows through.6th of June: Bond looking majestic! Sadly the very next day he had broken his antler and now looks a little less majestic. 8th of June: No reindeer, but a lovely view from the side of Silver Mount looking down towards Glenmore and Loch Morlich with the lovely cotton grass in the foreground. 9th of June: 99 sporting his yellow sun block!9th of June: The handsome Akubra coming to say hello.11th of June: On a warm day the boys can go back to the gate and cause a bit of a road blockage for our visitors wanting to leave!11th of June: Trying to get a decent photo for social media to announce the arrive of our 2026 calendar. This is me showing Amur his page in the calendar.14th of June: Choc-ice finding a good chin rest for a snooze.14th of June: After a rainy night, Lupin looks incredibly shaggy – his winter coat is coming off in big dreadlocks!14th of June: What a motley crew. From R-L we have 99, Rocket and Dr Seuss. 17th of April: Druid doing his best ‘wooing’ face after the Hill Trip. He’s quite a shy reindeer but after a Hill Trip he comes looking for the white bag and wins the hearts of our visitors!18th of June: Scoop is looking very smart in his short summer coat.18th of June: Busby lying down and looking very handsome after a Hill Trip.19th of June: Harness training with some of our male reindeer. 20th of June: A sunny Hill Trip!25th of June: Butter, one of last year’s breeding bulls, growing a lovely set of antlers. 25th of June: Morse has also been a breeding bull in his day, but is now one of ‘Christmas reindeer’ trained to harness. 26th of June: Ärta looking very scruffy. 26th of June: Paddock swap day! Taking the Paddock boys back up the hill.
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!
Following on from the blog last week, with lots of silly photos of reindeer yawning (click here to see that) I thought I’d post a blog show-casing the various sleeping postures of reindeer!
It does seem like the perfect time to post this blog as with the busy Christmas season now over, and the Reindeer Centre shutting on Monday the 9th of January until Saturday the 11th of February, most reindeer herders are generally looking in need of a decent sleep too!
So, for no other reason than hopefully to make a few folk smile, here comes lots of photos of snoozing reindeer…
Here’s the loveable Celt (mid-moult) sleeping directly on his nose. A popular sleeping posture for many reindeer! July 2021.An arty picture of Stenoa, also having a kip on his snozzle – October 2021.This is Clouseau demonstrating the curled in a ball method of sleeping, right next to a visitor’s feet – July 2022.Here’s Kipling in the ball position – March 2022.Hobnob is using the ball technique in December 2022 during a blizzard.During a Christmas event in Langholm, December 2021, Bond opted for the ball technique.Another sleeping position is with a head on one side and an antler flat on the ground. Dr Seuss is displaying this beautifully here – September 2022.Here’s Spartan demonstrating the head on one side technique – August 2021.Busby found a nice comfy tussock here to use as a pillow – December 2021.Dr Seuss snoozing again, this time using a mossy pillow to make sure he’s extra comfortable – October 2021.Another position is the completely flat-out, and in this case soaking up as much sun as possible! Here is Texel and her calf (now named 99) in early June 2022.Busby in the middle of this group of dozing reindeer is also displaying the flat-out method! Meanwhile, his mum Hopscotch (closet to the camera) is choosing to sleep on her nose. December 2022.Sunny often used the flat-out method in our kitchen by the washing machine – May 2022.At an event in Aberfeldy, Sunny opted for the flat out method again, whilst his team mates are mostly using the ball strategy! December 2022.Legs out with a head curled back was Sunny’s preferred napping choice here – July 2022.Morse (closest to the camera) is also choosing the legs out, head curled back method for his post-Hill Trip nap in this picture. Meanwhile, Spider (middle) is in the ball position and Spartan (back) is on his chin – August 2021.And the grand finale – my ultimate snoozy reindeer photo! Topi having a wee nap on Fiona’s shoulder mid-parade on Christmas Day 2017.
I know you will look at the title of this blog and think… What?!?! Christmas is ages away. However, this isn’t about Christmas itself, more about our tour and what we will be doing this year with regards to Christmas events across the country.
Over the past 33 years we have covered the length and breadth of Great Britain and Northern Ireland visiting various town and shopping centres as well as garden centres, schools, hospitals, care homes… the list goes on. When it comes to Christmas everyone loves seeing our reindeer, and our trained Christmas reindeer are an honour to work with. Their naturally friendly nature and ability to remain unfazed in most situations makes us feel so proud of them. Of course extensive desensitising training has taken place over many years to prepare them for these moments, but nonetheless they make us feel so proud of them.
Harness training in July 2022 – desensitising begins early for our reindeer. Sleigh training in the autumn – getting ready for tour! Scolty and Frost at the front.
Times are changing and our business changes with it. Once upon a time the income from Christmas events was a crucial part of the year to help maintain the reindeer herd in the Highlands of Scotland for the rest of the year. Like every business we have bills to pay. Whether it’s paying the lease for the land the reindeer roam or staff wages, naturally there are plenty of outgoings, and Christmas events helped to support this. However, The Reindeer Centre itself here in the heart of the Highlands has really grown into itself and with a great team of herders with many visitors to the area to entertain we are becoming much more self sufficient here at home. As a result we have re-evaluated how much ‘Christmas’ we actually need to do.
Santa even comes to visit the Reindeer Centre on weekends in December!The Paddocks and Exhibition are often very busy on the run up to the big day!
Some of our longest standing events are in the far south. Basingstoke, Windsor, Llanelli, Carmarthen, Cowbridge and Usk to name a few. Some of these events have been going ahead for over 25 years. They are fantastic events and always well organised with the organisers and public giving our reindeer the up most respect. For some of the people visiting these events when they were children 25 years ago are now attending with their own children so it really is lovely to see and be part of. With COVID making the last two years tricky for everybody whether it be budgets being cut or just the fact that event organisers didn’t want to be attracting big crowds of people for public safety meant that some of these events didn’t go ahead. Naturally there was huge disappointment, but everybody understood. Off the back of less demand to travel further south we have taken this opportunity to look at our own business and where we are going and have now decided that we won’t be taking part in events south of Manchester. Obviously I feel terrible for the fantastic events that these venues have put on over the years but with such good relationships with them all I have explained our situation and they have all replied and completely understand our situation. They have thanked us and our lovely reindeer for being part of their Christmas festivities and wished us well going forward. We couldn’t have asked for nicer comments from them all.
Volunteer Paul and herder Mel with a team of 6 reindeer in Wilmslow – November 2021.Slioch and Dr Seuss at the front of the sleigh in Bradford – November 2021.
So going forward we are still doing Christmas events but we will be sticking to Scotland and the north of England. We will run less teams as a result and concentrate much more of what we do at home. We hope you can visit us either here in the Cairngorms or while we are out on tour in November and December but for now I just want to say a massive thank you to all of our events based further south than Manchester for all your support over the years. We will miss working with you and we wish you all the best going forward.
Reindeer walking off the hill – ready for a weekend of parades and events. Frost and Bond at the front.Christmas lorry hitting the road!
Here at The Cairngorm Reindeer Centre we are ‘popping the bottles of bubbly’ and celebrating, because it was this day 70 years ago that the first small group of reindeer arrived in the Cairngorms for what would be a successful experiment to re-introduce reindeer to Scotland after many years of absence.
An idea conceived by ‘couple extraordinaire’ Mikel Utsi and his wife Dr Ethel Lindgren, their tenacity and zeal paid off and the first small breeding group actually set foot on terra firma here in the Cairngorms on 27th May 1952.
Mr Utsi holding Sarek, before disembarking MS Sarek at Rothesay Dock, Glasgow, 1952
The first consignment was swiftly followed by a second group of reindeer coming in the following October and finally on 29th April 1954 a third group arrived. These reindeer would form the nucleus of the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd we love and cherish today.
Mikel Utsi was a Swedish Sami, born 17th May 1908 and brought up in a reindeer herding family in Swedish Lapland. As the second child of 8 children he was expected to ‘make his own way in life’, something I think we can all agree he certainly did!
Mikel Utsi fly spraying antlers, Loch Morlich behind.Not much changes on our summer morning today, here’s Hen spraying Bond’s antlers (and getting a beady look in return!) in summer 2021.
His wife Dr Lindgren came from a very different background. Born on 1st January 1905 she was the only child of a wealthy Swedish-American banking family. She travelled extensively as a child with her family, graduated at Cambridge University with a first class honours in oriental languages and moral science and studied and wrote her PhD on reindeer herding people, the Tungus after expeditions to NW Manchuria in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s.
Dr Lindgren with Alice, Anne, Pelle (behind) in 1952
Mr Utsi and Dr Lindgren met in Jokkmokk on the Arctic circle in Swedish Lapland and they married in 1947. They then devoted their lives to their ‘dream’ to re-introduce reindeer to Scotland. And 70 years on that dream has been a huge success, providing enjoyment to many. We have a lot to thank them both for.
Mr Utsi introducing Sarek to three Aviemore school children, 1952Sheena leading a Hill Trip, 2021
The vast majority of reindeer have been born here in the Cairngorms and they descend from original females brought in during the 1950’s. Over a span of 11+ generations, both homebred and imported bulls have been used to ensure genetic diversity in the herd.
Today visitors to the herd, our reindeer support scheme and Christmas events with our trained reindeer are all ways we generate income to help keep this unique herd of reindeer in their natural, free-living environment. We have a dedicated group of ‘Scottish Reindeer Herders’ who are also family and friends and who are involved daily in the well-being and caring of this unique herd.
Vikhta outside Reindeer House, 1962Volunteer Carol, herders Amy, Lotti and Ruth, with Fiona and Sherlock and Tilly and LX posing outside Reindeer House – May 2022.Herders on calf naming night , September 2021
So for me as co-owner of the herd I would like to say a big ‘THANK YOU’ to the late Mikel Utsi and Dr Lindgren for establishing this herd and also to our reindeer herders of today who continue to make this imaginative experiment such a success.
So raise your glass to The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd and may they thrive in the Cairngorms for many years to come.
Free-ranging herd in 1956Happy free-ranging herd, summer 2021
Tilly Smith. Co-owner of the Cairngorm Reindeer
A podcast with Tilly about 70 years of reindeer on the Cairngorms, produced by Pinsharp Studios, can be found here.
As Ben and Fiona have explained in previous blogs (click here, and here to read), we had a busy December with events and parades up and down the country, as well as a busy Centre here in Glenmore with fully-booked Hill Trips and Christmas Fun paddock slots! Plus hundreds of adoption packs to make up and post out, alongside all the usual office antics.
For this week’s blog, I’ve collated a series of photographs found on my phone during this particularly busy month to give a brief snapshot of what went on in the life of a reindeer herder. Turns out I don’t take many photographs whilst I’m sat in front of a computer answering emails so the photos are quite biased to all the fun times I’ve had out and about. Thankfully this makes for a much more enjoyable blog… lots of pictures of reindeer!
2nd of December – The unmistakable snozzle of Dr Seuss enjoying the fresh snow. The first half of the month was snowy and cold, great for the reindeer but unfortunately this meant we had to cancel some of our Hill Trips. Thankfully the majority were able to go ahead without complications. 3rd of December – Olly and I spying for the free-rangers in a winter wonderland. We watched the herd coming to our call from a couple of kilometers away! Note: stances might not be entirely natural. Photo by herder Sheena. 4th of December – Lotti and I went away for the weekend with this wonderful team of reindeer (Clouseau, Bond, Holy Moley, Trilby and Akubra) seen here having a snooze at the Langholm event.5th of December – After a night at our Lockerbie base, we headed to Lancaster. Here’s Holy Moley trying to beat-up her own reflection whilst in the pen, much to the amusement of the crowd. 7th of December – the first day of our shiny new Mountain Equipment jackets here modeled by Joe and Lotti, whilst giving the calves some extra feed. It’s a tough job but somebody has to do it! 7th of December – Witch having a big stretch after a snooze during Storm Barra! The ice cracked on her side as she stood up and moved – very cool!8th of December – After one weekend looking dramatic in our paddocks for “Christmas Fun” Sherlock decided he’d had enough and cast his antlers! Here’s Ben modeling the impressive head gear. Soon after, Sherlock and the other young bulls were out free-ranging on the mountains.9th of December – Cowboy, now 7 months old, already knows that tasty snacks are kept in white bags! What a cutie.12th of December – Fiona and I had an event at a farm near Inverness. Good opportunity to write some adoption letters whilst waiting for people to visit the reindeer!13th of December – Finding some peace and quiet away from the office by feeding the beautiful free-ranging herd! Note the lack of snow, there was a thaw halfway through the month but still chilly with frosts most mornings which means happy reindeer!19th of December – Feeding the free-ranging herd again, lovely Sambar leading the herd in whilst busily chewing the cud.20th of December – Tiree the dog having a snooze in the office, it’s all a bit much for her!23rd of December – Herder Harry re-joined us again for December. Here he is being all cute surrounded by our cute but greedy calves.24th of December – Another trip up the mountain to feed the free-rangers. Here’s Puzzle looking great!26th of December – It was very windy and wild Boxing Day so we dropped down in to the woods to find some shelter on our Hill Trips.31st of December – Some very snoozy reindeer after the last Hill Trip of 2021! What superstars they are.
Merry Christmas everyone. As you may well imagine, when you have a herd of reindeer, December is a busy time of the year. And this year has been no different. In this blog, I’ll provide a summary of what happens at the Reindeer Centre throughout December.
We’ve been having plenty of ‘Christmas Fun’ in the Paddocks and Exhibition area. This has taken place every December weekend as well as every day this past week in the build up to Christmas Day. Here we’ve had Santa Claus in his cosy, fire-lit grotto as well as arts and crafts, a special Christmas activity booklet for the kids to complete and plenty of herder talks out in the paddocks alongside the reindeer. We hope you’ve enjoyed chatting to us herders and seeing Santa!
The BBQ hut warm and cosy, ready for Father Christmas!The main man himself! Delighted to have him join us every weekend in December.
The weather hasn’t always played ball with our plans. In fact, the start of December brought some pretty wild weather. We had over 10cm of snow. The reindeer were delighted and could often be seen dancing with joy, which can be seen in the video below. However, the Ski Road leading up to the car park had to be closed on occasion due to dangerous, icy conditions and a few Hill Trips were subsequently cancelled.
Reindeer dancing with joy in the snow!Blizzard conditions led to several Hill Trips being cancelled earlier in the month.
The snow melted about halfway through the month due to a mild spell of weather and we now have just a bit of frost on the ground in all areas except the very tops of the mountains. The weather didn’t put you hardy folks off visiting though and we had lots of visitors wrapping up warm and braving the elements on our hill trips. In fact, the December weekend hill trips were all booked up before December even started!
December is also the busiest month for our adoption scheme. As such we’ve been wading through seemingly never-ending torrents of incoming adoptions. All the herders have gallantly pulled long shifts of office work and about a week before Christmas Day we managed to paddle through the swell and get through the backlog of adoptions. No adoption was waiting more than a couple of days after being received so we hope that you receive your packages in a timely manner. During the busiest times, herders were writing letters whilst on tour and we recruited help from Linda and Tina who have been fantastic at writing letters for us from their homes.
Fiona and Ruth writing letters on an event, whilst waiting for people to visit the reindeer.
One of the other events that happens over November and December is that a selection of trained reindeer may go out on tour around the nation. Events are often relatively local, however we reached as far south as Windsor this year and went as far away as Llanelli in South Wales. Training for the reindeer occurs throughout summer and really hots up during the autumn. The reindeer may be in a display pen or participating in a sleigh procession. It varies from event to event. The team and their herders will stay at overnight bases throughout the UK, and they will travel in big lorries with lots of space which means that the reindeer will often lie down on the straw when travelling or as some of you may have seen, they may also lie down when they’re in a pen. They like to relax whenever possible. Our calves have even had a bit of exposure to Christmas events and overall, they’ve been absolute champions.
One of our Christmas lorries on the road, containing two herders and six reindeer (usually 4 adult males and 2 calves).Bond, Clouseau, Holy Moley, Trilby and Akubra lying down in a pen in Lancaster earlier this month.
Colin D (we have two Colins!) has clocked up the most miles of all of us herders and that’s good news for the rest of us as he produces the funniest videos. Here is Colin narrating Dr Seuss’ gardening skills. Stay tuned for more of Colin’s videos in a future blog/social media posts…
Colin Delap and Dr Seuss with a special Christmas offer…
We are still open as usual until the 6th of January 2022. The Centre will then close until the 12th of February, re-opening in time for the February half-term. The entire herd will soon be free-ranging either on the Cairngorms or the Cromdales, fingers crossed for another cold and snowy winter. Thank you for all our wonderful visitors, supporters, blog-readers, and adopters throughout 2021. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, from all the reindeer herders!
A while ago I wrote a blog about how Reindeer House managed to cope with its temporary hitch back in the summer, when its resident staff caught Covid. I mentioned then that Andi and I (who live outside of Reindeer House and managed to stay unaffected) were responsible throughout for the 8am morning check of the herd on the hill, so I thought I’d perhaps explain a little more about what we do in the mornings, before visitors arrive, in another blog. So I have put fingers to keyboard and here we are.
Typical scruffy summer reindeer! Butter, LX, Druid and Slioch (left to right)
Throughout the whole summer we run the guided Hill Trips up to meet the reindeer in our hill enclosure at 11am and 2.30pm, but the herd are actually fed 3 times a day. By doing the first feed bright and early, it gives us time to check everything is shipshape and ready for the day, allowing us to then concentrate on making sure our visitors have as good a visit as possible, with us safe in the knowledge that all the reindeer are happy and healthy.
Usually 2 or 3 of us will head up early doors, and in the summer there is usually only one group of reindeer in the enclosure to deal with. By comparison right now as I’m writing this (early October), there are reindeer in 5 separate areas of the enclosure, all needing checking and feeding at least twice daily! One group only is much more straightforward and seems like a distant dream right now.
The very first job of the day, before heading to the hill enclosure, is to drive up to the ski centre to check none of the free-ranging reindeer are nearby. Right in the middle of summer this would be unusual, but they do sometimes surprise us, so it’s always worth a check! A convenient layby also gives us a bird’s eye view of much of the enclosure, so we have a quick scan over it too.
Spying with binoculars on a rather murky day.Even when the herd is waiting for their breakfast in their usual spot, they can be difficult to spot from afar. But antlers give them away sooner or later!
The hill enclosure is around 1200 acres in size; about 2km in length. The nearest end of it consists of several smaller areas, and our first job of the day is to bring the herd through to the nearest area, the ‘bottom corridor’, and to see if everyone walks through cheerfully and willingly. A reindeer who is off colour will lose their appetite and is quite likely to trail through a distance after the others, less enthusiastic about the prospect of breakfast, so that is the first clue of someone feeling under the weather.
If we are suspicious any reindeer is not quite themselves, the first thing we do then is to check their temperature – so it pays not to be the last reindeer through the gate, otherwise there could be a thermometer up your bum before you know what’s happening! However, a high temperature indicates a tick-borne fever, and a shot of antibiotics is the next step, which should nip any infection in the bud.
Injecting a long-acting general antibiotic – something every herder learns to do early on it their reindeer herding career.
Once every week or so in the summer we’ll get the whole herd up to our shed and work our way through the whole herd, checking temperatures, as some reindeer are very good at not showing any symptoms at all even when they have a roaring fever. This type of fairly intensive routine monitoring isn’t necessary in the winter months as there are no ticks about then, but the warmer weather brings them out and so reindeer do get very used to regular violations of their dignity…
Temperature checking. Dr Seuss couldn’t give a stuff, as long as there’s a bag of bribery in it for him……and all good! A temperature of 38.3, as seen in this photo, is fine, the average being around 38.9 for a reindeer.
Something else that needs doing regularly of a summer’s morning, even daily at times, is fly-spraying. Like with any animal, flies will buzz around the reindeer on sunny days, and whilst they don’t generally cause any real problem, they drive the reindeer mad at times. No-one likes having flies buzzing round their face! With the reindeer, the flies tend to aim for the antlers, clustering around the soft growing tips where the blood supply is richest. If a tiny nick in the velvet skin is made, the flies will feed on the blood and this brings with it the risk of infection.
Flies around antlers.
So we spray the antlers to help keep the flies off, using a DEET-based spray that is designed for horses. But unfortunately we can’t wipe the spray on with a cloth as reindeer hate their antlers being touched whilst they are growing (and also it would take forever to do 40-odd reindeer this way!), so we have to just spray it on, accepting that – from a financial point of view at least – an upsettingly large percentage of it is lost or misses it’s target. Reindeer very rarely stand quietly to have their antlers sprayed, either doing their best to pull away from us, or rushing around in circles if contained in the shed. But there’s no way around it – antlers need spraying and it’s better for the herd to be rather flustered for a few minutes each morning than spend the day charging around to get away from the flies.
Myself spraying Bond’s antlers – and getting a beady look in return!
On an average summer’s morning, at this point it’s breakfast time! Just like on the Hill Trips, we tip the bag of feed out into small piles in a big long line, count to check every reindeer is present and correct, and make sure every is eating enthusiastically. And then – just as importantly – head back down to the Reindeer Centre and stick the kettle on…
Me feeding the herd.Andi counting the line to check the numbers match.
This first couple of hours of the morning is also when we do any ‘movement’ of reindeer if needed, such as letting reindeer out to free-range on the mountains outside the enclosure, or swapping over the reindeer in the Paddocks with those up in the hill enclosure. We also regularly poo-pick the nearer areas of the enclosure where the reindeer congregate, or do maintenance jobs on the fencing and boardwalks. I suspect people sometimes wonder why we don’t open any earlier than 10am, but these couple of hours are sacred to us – the time flies by all too quickly and we’re still often left scrabbling around trying to get finished and back to the Centre in time to open on schedule!
