Tag: Dr Seuss

Posted on

Kate’s journey to full time herding

I’ve worked with the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd as cover staff since 2019, coming and going, never staying more than a couple of months. This year I finally joined the team as permanent staff, so I wanted to commemorate my little journey to becoming a full-time reindeer herder. 

I first encountered the reindeer in April 2018 as a visitor on a Hill Trip. We had the wonderful Sheena as our guide. Standing in the snowy mountains, watching the herd mill around us, I fell completely in love with it all.

Meeting Oatcake on my first visit in 2018.
A young Dr Seuss in 2018.

After visiting a few times that summer, I asked about work. The next spring, the team were kind enough to have me along for a trial day. There was just one snag… My partner had just been offered a very exciting job at the opposite end of the country. We relocated from Scotland to the South-West.

I spent the summer of 2019 travelling up and down the length of the country to do cover work with the herd. My standout memory from that summer was a day out on the free-range. A cow with a little calf appeared on the plateau – Hobnob and Minsk. 

Minsk on the free-range as a calf, 2019.
The herd on the move in the enclosure, 2019.

My plans to return in 2020 were a bust due to Covid, so when 2021 arrived I was desperate to get back. I signed up to a solid two months of work over the summer and ended up living in my tent. It was such a rainy summer, and the old tent slowly accumulated duct tape to keep me dry and cosy. A solid two months of work really helped me build confidence.

Relaxing with Dr Seuss, 2021.
Emmental

In 2022 I was completing an ecology qualification and needed a field project. I took a break from herding and spent several weeks researching instead. I surveyed ticks in the enclosure and over at the farm. These parasites are a big issue for the herd due to the diseases they carry. I spent my summer following my GPS unit to random coordinates around the enclosure to conduct my survey, exploring all the secret nooks and crannies.

Lupin inspecting my wind speed metre in 2022.
A tick sampling transect on Silver Mount, 2022.

When I arrived in May 2023, I had just missed the birth of the last calf. There was still plenty of calf action though, as we ended up with two hand-reared calves – Winnie and Alba. In early June we walked the cows and calves out onto the free-range. It was such a beautiful evening that I had a bit of a realisation… I really didn’t want to leave. This set the wheels in motion for us to move back to Scotland.

With Winnie and Alba in the woods, 2023.
Walking Cows and Calves onto the free-range, June 2023.

April/May 2024 was my first proper calving season, getting out and looking for cows and their new-born calves around the enclosure. I was house hunting in the area on my days off. Slowly, everything fell into place. By September we’d found a house, and I also got my first proper experience of working during the rut. When I left, it was so exciting to think that when I finally returned to Scotland it would be for good.

Catching a calf in 2024.
Moving the herd of the free-range, 2024.

2025 kicked off with two big moves! Me and my husband moved cross-country again, and the Reindeer Centre moved into the new building! I came back for some cover work in March, and in April I finally joined as permanent staff. No looking back now!

Moving the herd on a snowy morning, March 2025.
Winnie and Alba, all grown up, 2025.

Kate

Posted on

Photo Blog: September 2025

September is a beautiful time of year. We’ve had the first snow on the plateau and lovely autumnal sunny days. The odd soggy day too, of course! The reindeer 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. We split the first bull, Choc-ice, with a small group of girls on the 22nd – exciting times!

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!

1st of September: Cheer and her daughter Chai in the background.
1st of September: The time of year when the bulls start stripping the velvet. Here is two-year-old Limpopo looking very handsome.
3rd of September: Emmental and her calf back in the enclosure after a summer of free ranging.
3rd of September: A family portrait! Irish, his wee sister, and his mum, Helsinki. Since Helsinki has been back in our enclosure, one-year-old Irish has become rather attached to his mum again! Helsinki is very tolerant and shares her pile of food with her teenage son.
4th of September: Bordeaux and her son. These two didn’t come in for their breakfast so I got a lovely walk up Silver Mount to find them and return them to the herd. Both were completely fine and clearly just having a lie-in.
4th of September: Elbe, a twin, is looking phenomenal! He’s two years old and has a really lovely nature! We’re all very fond of him.
4th of September: Peanut’s male calf is looking great and is already quite tame.
4th of September: Two freckly white noses trying to get into the hand feed bag. Sundae on the left and Beanie on the right.
9th of September: The calves in the enclosure have quickly learnt what’s in the bags! They get allowed to feed directly from the bags which encourages them to be tamer and so they can get some extra mouthfuls without a bigger reindeer stealing it from them. Zoom and Choc-ice are circling the bags like piranhas!
10th of September: One of our gorgeous calves. This wee one belongs to Hopscotch.
10th of September: Glacée and her daughter. She’s done so well as a first time mum!
11th of September: Lotti and Kate feeding the herd.
11th of September: Moving some of our free rangers from outside the cafe on Cairngorm Mountain! Sunflower, Fika and Solero are the three closest to camera. Fika and Solero are stripping the velvet from their antlers.
15th of September: Old girl Ryvita on a very soggy day. She’s now back out free ranging but came into the enclosure for a few days for a health check and vaccination. She’s looking great for 16!
16th of September: Brie posing beautifully on a lovely autumnal morning.
16th of September: The calves are allowed to feed from the bags before we put it out on the ground for everyone else. You can see the older reindeer lurking around the edge and Cameron and Kate on guard duty!
17th of September: Amazon is now two years old. Her mum Dante is just behind.
17th of September: Christie has done it again! She looks phenomenal and has produced yet another lovely, chilled-out wee dude!
18th of September: Jimmy looking very handsome.
22nd of September: Winnie looking gorgeous in the beautiful autumnal light! She was hand reared in 2023 and has come back into the hill enclosure after almost a year out free ranging looking amazing!
23rd of September: Morven and her calf. Both have ridiculous antlers!
24th of September: Marple and calf. Her calf has turned into a greedy food monster!
26th of September: After a week in our Paddocks Dr Seuss is now back in the hill enclosure ready for the 11am Hill Trip and hand feeding!

Ruth

Posted on

Volunteer Blog: Emm’s visit in September 2024

The September visit was very special. We were lucky enough to attend Fiona and Joe’s wedding and celebrations. They got married on top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille, the hill behind Reindeer House. It was a very wet and windy day but it was so special being on top with Fiona, Joe and everyone and the dogs and to see them get married. A person was playing the bagpipes too which was very magical. We all went to the Pine Marten Bar afterwards for some food, drink and dancing. Then there was a fantastic weekend of celebrations at Badaguish involving a second wedding ceremony and wedding photos and of course reindeer. The reindeer who attended were Busby, Magnum, Hemp and Dr Seuss. The weather was so lovely and there were lots of sunshine. The other celebrations included a ceilidh, Highland games, fun run, a loch swim in Loch Morlich, where I paddled this time, and lots of music, food and drink. It was so lovely seeing everyone and it was very being special being part of the really fantastic wedding celebrations.

Fiona and Joe on a very soggy but utterly beautiful wedding day.
Fiona and Joe with Busby, Hemp and Dr Seuss!

I was very lucky enough to be invited to attend the naming meeting of the calves. I sat around the table in the kitchen of Reindeer House with my herding friends and had tea and cake with them whilst they decided on the names of the new calves the theme this year being Teas and Coffees.

The calves had grown so much since I had last seen them in May. They had just come into the hill enclosure from the free range with their mums. They were much bigger and braver. Helsinki’s premature calf was doing so well. His name is Irish after Irish coffee.

Latte (Brie’s calf) and Emm!

So much had changed in the new Reindeer Centre building. Tilly with her grandchildren gave me a tour of the new Centre. The stairs had been put in and the walls plastered. Sinks, pipes and the boiler had been put in. It looked so amazing. It is slowly getting there and is so exciting. It will be brilliant. We went outside to see where the reindeer Paddocks will be.

One morning, Poirot and Mivvi were outside the hill enclosure entrance gate. They had got out of the enclosure somehow. They were put back in and Isla walked around the fence line of the whole hill enclosure to see where they had got out. The fence line is 8km and the hill enclosure is 1,200 acres. She found out that someone had left the gate open down in the woods near Utsi’s hut so she shut it. 

Emm and Mivvi.

I had a big surprise one morning on the Hill Trip, as I got out the reindeer van in the carpark and a lady came over to me and I realised it was a lovely lady from our local art shop where I am from. She was with her husband and they were on their honeymoon. They were so surprised to see me as they didn’t know I was up and thought I would be up later in the year. They were visiting because of me as I often go into their art shop back and show her and her colleagues my reindeer photos and tell them all about the reindeer and they got very interested. It was such a lovely surprise to see her and her husband and it was so brilliant taking them up to see the reindeer. That was such a special day.

I had time to chill and enjoy the reindeer which I really find special. One day after a morning Hill Trip, the reindeer were lying down in groups. They were chilling, dozing or asleep. One of the calves, Irish, was twitching in his sleep and his eyes were rolling. Hemp was asleep and snoring. I went around taking photos and selfies and Caterpillar was following me as I had the hand feed bag. She tended to follow me during Hill Trips because of the hand feed bag and because she is a shy reindeer we had been giving her hand feed out of the bag after the Hill Trips to get used to being handled. One day after another Hill Trip, Silk and Suebi from the free range turned up outside the hill enclosure fence. They followed Ruth and Lotti, who had a food bag, into the hill enclosure. They had been trying to get Silk into the hill enclosure for a wee while with little success as she is a very shy reindeer so everyone was really pleased she came into the hill enclosure.

Emm and a bunch of snoozy reindeer, including Morse with those whopping antlers behind.
Christie and Espresso having a nap.

I got to help again treat some poorly reindeer when Pumpkin’s calf, called Lapsang, had been lying flat out on the hill trip. We took her temperature and it was very high. I held onto Pumpkin, who was on a head collar, whilst Ruth and Isla were dealing with Lapsang as Pumpkin was a protective mum. Most reindeer are not protective but Pumpkin was but Ruth was able to give Lapsang an injection to bring down the temperature and Isla led them both to the shed in the hill enclosure where to keep an eye on them.

At the end of my stay my herder friends surprised me by bringing Scully my adopted reindeer down from the hill. I was so pleased to see her. They had gone out to get Florence and her calf Cuppa off the free range there and bring them back to the hill enclosure to start getting Cuppa used to people and being handled. They also brought four more reindeer back including Scully which was so special. This was at the end of the day on my last working day so the next morning I went up on the morning Hill Trip to see Scully which was so brilliant. I got to hand feed her and Ruth took lovely photos of me with her.  

Scully and Emm on the last day of Emm’s stay.

So, I have shared with you some of the memorable highlights of 2024 being with the reindeer and my herder friends. It was such a special time as always. I am really looking forward to being with the reindeer in 2025 with my first visit in February. I am so excited and am counting down the days till my next visit.

Emm and Dr Seuss.

Emm

Posted on

Photo Blog: June 2025

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.

Ruth

Posted on

Photo Blog: February 2025

February has been a great month as we moved into our NEW Reindeer Centre. We opened the doors to the public on the 8th of February for the very first time – hoorah!

The Hill Trips have been running as normal every day (apart from one where we had to cancel due to wild weather!) and we’ve been taking visitors to the free ranging herd here on Cairngorm. We’ve also had reindeer on display in the Paddocks for the February half-term holidays. The entire herd is now back out free ranging in the hills, split between two locations. I love this time of year – getting out to see the reindeer in their mountain home every day is an absolute privilege.

Here’s a selection of photos just taken on my phone over the last month.

7th of February: Feeding the herd with Sheena and Hen, look at that lovely blue sky. We took four reindeer down off the hill and into our Paddocks where they stayed for a few days for the start of the February half-term.
8th of February: A big occasion – Tilly cutting the red ribbon opening our brand-new Reindeer Centre.
8th of February: Helsinki and her son Irish relaxing.
11th of February: Gorgeous Fern! The oldest reindeer in the entire herd. She’ll turn 18 in the spring and definitely deserves spoiling. You can see the evidence on her nose!
11th of February: A lovely pic of Fern and Andi.
12th of February: Moving the herd in to position ready for a Hill Trip. Emmental and Borlotti at the front.
13th of February: Trilby looking beautiful on a sunny day!
14th of February: Holy Moley posing for a photo whilst the others eat on the line. On Hill Trips, she often justs waits for the handfeed and doesn’t bother with the food on the ground!
14th of February: Vanilla coming in to see if there’s any more food on offer.
17th of February: Helsinki and her son Irish… again. They’re a very sweet pair!
18th of February: Emmental leading the herd to the Hill Trip location.
19th of February: Macchiato and a beautiful sky behind!
20th of February: Alba, one of our hand-reared calves from 2023, out free ranging and doing incredibly well! We’re very proud of her!
20th of February: Moving ther herd on a very windy and wild day!
23rd of February: The Hill trip was cancelleld as the weather was WILD! So here’s a pic from the Paddocks. Dr Seuss looking very relaxed.
25th of February: The lovely Winnie, like Alba, she was hand-reared in 2023.
26th of February: Lolly.
26th of February: These two are aleays stuck together like glue, Florence and her wee boy Cuppa.
27th of February: Latte and her mum Brie.
28th of February: Emm at the back of the herd doing a super job getting them moving.

Ruth

Posted on

New Christmas Reindeer 2024

So the newbies to Christmas this year are: Morse, Jelly, Ärta, Akubra, Jester, Busby, Cowboy, Mr Whippy, Gelato, Magnum and Mivvi. They were all trained in Oct/Nov this year to wear harness and pull the sleigh. This is always done alongside a reindeer who is already trained to show them the ropes. Most of them went out on Christmas events as a 5-6 month old calf but these boys have now all been trained to harness and to pull the sleigh so lets hear how they have all got on this season.

One of our Christmas Day parades at the Macdonald Resort in Aviemore! Ärta on the right looking very comfortable being led by an elf! Cuppa, Fika are the calves and the old pro (and Ärta’s big bro) Dr Seuss at the back.

Morse’s antlers are so big we had to train him alongside another Christmas reindeer who either had one antler or no antlers so he could fit. As a result we decided that once he was trained here in Glenmore that on actual Christmas events he wouldn’t pull the sleigh as we didn’t want him to have a bad experience so he just had to follow behind with the others. The last time he did Christmas event was back in 2018 when he was a calf so 6 year ago now, but, he hadn’t forgotten and has been great and looks so, so impressive. We did alter his team to only have 1 calf (usually there are 2) because we didn’t think there would be enough room at the back of the sleigh for two adults and two calves with the sheer size of his antlers.

Morse and Frost during a training session in snowy Glenmore.

Jelly and Ärta are Covid calves. This means they didn’t actually go out on Christmas tour in 2020 so it was a slightly steeper learning curve for them. The training the calves get at 5-6 months old is so valuable come adult hood when they have already seen what it’s all about. But, it’s not to say they can’t, it just takes special handling and picking the correct events for these reindeer to take part in. Both were harness and sleigh trained in Oct/Nov and I’d say Ärta was better than Jelly so we may need extra time for Jelly to get there. Jelly lost his antlers fairly early on in the season so he was just a ‘back reindeer’ behind the sleigh this year. Ärta has pulled the sleigh on a couple of straight-forward parades which weren’t very busy and he’s seems like he’ll be grand in the future. Like I said we just take things a bit slower with reindeer who need that extra training but in a few years time I suspect they will be the ones training the newbies so watch this space!

Ärta on Christmas Day!
Poirot and Busby at the front of the sleigh whilst Ärta learns how to walk nicely at the back of the sleigh – taking it all in his stride.

The 3 year old boys have been absolute superstars this Christmas. Akubra from the day he joined the herd has always proved to be Mr Chill and the others – Cowboy, Busby and Jester aren’t far behind. They have all been out and about pulling the sleigh or walking at the back and it’s looking like we have some cracking ‘Christmas reindeer’ up and coming in these guys. They make us so proud!

Cowboy at the front of the sleigh in Dunkeld (next to old boy Druid). Cowboy was amazing and didn’t put a hoof wrong!
Another training session with Ben at the front of the sleigh with Dr Seuss and newbie Akubra, plus Busby at the back.
Jester at an event at Landmark, Carrbridge. He did a super job walking at the back of the sleigh.
The lovely Busby, also at Landmark. He pulled the sleigh during the parade and was fantastic.
Akubra and Busby pulling the sleigh on Christmas Day with Lotti leading. Ärta can be seen in the background.
Busby and Akubra pulling the sleigh whilst getting filmed!

Then we have four 2 year olds – Magnum, Mr Whippy, Gelato and Mivvi. We don’t usually geld our reindeer until they are 3 years old (unless we use them as a breeding bull), however, these four were particularly big for their age so we decided gelding them a year early wouldn’t impact their growth. We did train them here in Glenmore to pull the sleigh, which they were great at, we decided that on events if it was a long parade then they would walk at the back rather than put that pressure on a younger body. If it was a short parade with a light Santa then we might give them a go. All four have been so good and taking everything in their stride. Like the boys who are 1 year older they have the making of being a fantastic Christmas reindeer.

Gelato, Irish, Mivvi and Jester on display at Gleneagles Hotel.
Magnum pulling the sleigh for the very first time next to Clouseau. Adzuki at the back.
Mr Whippy pulling the sleigh for the first time next to Anster.
Mivvi on an event at Gleneagles. This was a ‘reindeer only’ event with no sleigh, but great exposure all the same and a lovely place to work!

So there you have it, class of 2024. A real mixed bag but all characters in their own way. When working with them at Christmas time we really get to know them as individuals which only makes that bond and knowledge all the better.

Fiona

Posted on

Differences and similarities between Highland cattle and reindeer: part 2

For anyone who didn’t read part 1 then check it out here!

Halter training:

October is halter training time for our reindeer, we will (temporarily) take the calves away from their mums and start doing some training. This is very helpful in case we need to catch them for any treatment in the future or walk them to a new area. Some of the well-trained, castrated reindeer end up doing some Christmas events in the festive season and sometimes the cattle will go to an event or show, needing to be halter trained.

Reindeer or cattle, the first time on a halter can be a bit difficult as it’s an unfamilar sensation having something on your face. We will try to give them lots of nice food and the best experience as possible. The second day will be much more relaxed for both handler and animal already, but is does take some work and patience to get them to walk nicely on a halter without them being stubborn or without any pulling.

Halter training with cattle can be a bit more dangerous as they are heavy in weight and pretty strong. Not only that, where reindeer physically can’t kick backwards with their rear legs, cattle can!  At least, luckily both reindeer and cattle will not bite you, as they both don’t have upper teeth, but instead have a strong dental pad (gum without teeth).

One of the reasons why we halter train all our reindeer is so we can catch them out whilst free ranging incase we need to move them. This bunch of free rangers were easy to catch with that big bag of bribery next to Lisette!
Halter reaining in Glen Nevis.

Relaxing:

Reindeer or cattle, they all do love a bit of relaxing time!!

Ted having a nap!
Mairi enjoying the sun on her side.
Kelpie enjoying the sun.
Akubra enjoying some autumnal sunshine!
Cowboy fast asleep.
Dr Seuss relaxing, probably after eating lots of hand feed!

Green things(!):

 Reindeer in the Cairngorms and Highland cattle in Glen Nevis, they all love the color green; bags, scoops, bins, or even green vans!

Reindeer calves eating out of the green bag – Tub, Magnum, Viennetta, and Mr Whippy!
Beret seeing if we’ve got any extra food for her in our green bins in the hill enclosure.
Enjoying a quick snack from a green scoop!
Checking out Lisette’s green van!

Selfies:

Reindeer and cattle don’t mind a selfie or close-up photo either!

Max with his big wet nose.
Beret and her lovely furry, warm nose!

Cow and calf:

Cow and calf reindeer, Scully and new-born Yukon.
Cow and calf Highlanders!

Popularity:

Another thing they both have in common, they’re native to Scotland and tourists love seeing them!

Happy people on a Hill Trip visiting the reindeer.
People enjoying seeing the Highland cow herd in Glen Nevis.

Reindeer used to be native to Scotland but went extinct. Nobody knows exactly when, but we think the last reindeer (still roaming in Caithness and Cairngorm area, the coldest places in the UK) went extinct around the 1000 years ago due to different reasons, such as range restriction and people overhunting them. In other areas of Britain, reindeer disappeared much earlier, due to natural climate change after the last ice-age, the habitat changed and there was less suitable food for this Artic animal.

We think Highland cattle have descended from the Egyptian Long horn cattle. These cattle were well established and domesticated in the Nile village around 6000 years ago. Neolithic farmers brought these cattle into Britain. The group of cattle settled in the Highlands had to adapt to the colder and windy weather, growing lots more hair!

Another story is, that the Celtic immigrant people brought their Short Horns, another old breed (all cattle likely come from the Aurochs, originating either in North India or Central Asia and spreading into North Africa and into Europe) to the Scottish Island, where again, they had to adapt to the harsh weather. These cattle, black in color, were first called Kyloe (from the way they swam or were ferried across the kyles) and are now known as Highland cattle, mixing with the cattle on the mainland and domesticated into different colors, mostly red haired due to Queen Victoria’s preference. The Highland cattle herd book was established in 1885.

After the reindeer got re-introduced in Scotland to the Cairngorms (still the coldest place in the UK) in 1952, people fell in love with them and the Reindeer Centre has been taking people to see the reindeer on Hill Trips or in our Paddocks.

On the Glen Nevis Estate I’ve started taking people up to see the cattle since last year, March-October, either on a guided walk in the Glen or on the Hairy Cow Experience (find out more here: https://www.glen-nevis.co.uk/activities).

Lisette

Posted on

Photo Blog: November 2024

November has been a very mixed month for me in terms of work! Here at home I’ve been on the hill working with the herd, taking lots of people up to meet the reindeer on Hill Trips, and spending most afternoons sleigh training or working though the gazillions of adoptions that are coming in ahead of Christmas. I’ve also been on road with Christmas teams doing parades in Dumfries and as far south as Wilmslow. The reindeer were super and made me incredibly proud. Biggest shout out to Akubra who pulled the sleigh like an old pro in his first public events!

31st of October: I had to cheat a little as turns out I was rubbish at taking photos during the first week of November so here’s Feta and her calf Earl Grey from the last day of October!
31st of October: Another one from October for good measure – here’s Helsinki and her son Irish!
7th of November: Juniper! The only ‘polled’ reindeer in our herd (meaning she doesn’t grow antlers).
7th of November: Vanilla looking beautiful. One of three pure white reindeer in the herd.
8th of November: If there’s a white bag on the hill, Beanie is never too far away!
9th of November: Mel and I took this handsome bunch to a primary school for the day. They did a super job. In the team was Dr Seuss, Clouseau, Akubra, Magnum, Espresso and Irish.
12th of November: Lisette feeding a lovely bunch of free rangers.
16th of November: Dr Seuss back on tour! Here he is gently resting his chin on the sleigh before a parade. Clearly trying to impress the crowds as he is usually known for causing mild havoc by wrecking our decorations!
17th of November: The boys resting in Dunfermline with Magnum at the front. They were back on the hill in the evening.
19th of November: Akubra back on the hill after a weekend away! He was a total star and pulled the sleigh in two parades.
19th of November: Feeding the calves out of the bags. Earl Grey on the left and Pukka on the right both with a foot in the air!
20th of November: Adzuki looking very smart in the snow!
21st of November: Turtle enjoying the snow!
21st of November: Christie alongside a snow bunting! I love these incredibly hardy birds! A flock of around 40 came and joined us on the Hill Trip.
25th of November: The snow had mostly gone after Storm Bert but Scully and Feta found a patch.
25th of November: Pip proving that reindeer can’t bite! Look at the small row of bottom teeth and the hard palate at the top of her mouth.
27th of November: Latte coming in for a close up. What a funny face!

Ruth

Posted on

Photo Blog: October 2024

October has flown by in a whirl of breeding bulls, flirting cows, busy Hill Trips with the October school holidays, and carrying huge amounts of feed on the hill to feed the high number of reindeer in the enclosure! With three breeding bulls running, plus our non-breeding group which we take our visitors to, it’s a lot of mouths to feed! We’ve also had reindeer down in the woods here in Glenmore so we can train calves to walk on a halter and we did manage a bit of sleigh training before the holidays.

The reindeeer look fantastic at this time of year with fresh winter coats and full grown antlers. Hopefully you enjoy looking through this month’s photos!

3rd of October: The gorgeous Popsicle! She is part of our non-breeding free ranging group at the moment.
3rd of October: This little lad is so bold! He belongs to Torch and often comes marching over demanding more food.
7th of October: Arta chilling out after a Hill Trip.
7th of October: Morven and her mother Spy behind. Both with very spiky antlers!
7th of October: Torch is a phenomenal mum! Here she is making sure her calf (who also features above) is looking good for our visitors.
8th of October: This little lass is getting so tame! Her mum is Cheer, who is quite a shy reindeer.
10th of October: Little and large! One year old Amazon stood next to five year old Athens.
7th of October: Breeding bull Jimmy with some of his cows behind.
9th of October: A lot of rain and a very full Allt Mor. Too wet to take and pics of reindeer today!
1th of October: Butter being led off the hill after being a main breeding bull by Andi, Fi, and Hen. He was a great bull and fairly well-behaved throughout!
14th of October: Dr Seuss feeling snoozy after a hand feeding session.
15th of October: Poirot and Clouseau having a rest together after a Hill Trip. Both born in 2018 and named after inspectors and detectives.
16th of October: Brie’s and Florence’s calves hanging out together.
19th of October: Suebi and Scully having a gentle battle.
20th of October: A very wet morning! It was so wet and windy that we brought the herd into the first part of the enclosure so our visitors didn’t have to work so far.
20th of October: The sun came out in the afternoon for a few moments – here’s Pip’s calf with her epic antlers!
21st of October: Holy Moley, HM, or Her Majesty, as she sometimes is known to the herders.
24th of October: Feeding Kernel and his girls from afar. Here they are running up to the feed line.

Ruth

Posted on

Photo Blog: September 2024

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.

Ruth

Book Now