In early October, a few of us were up the hill with the reindeer at about 8pm (the time on the camera was set wrong – definitely wasn’t 3am!), when it was already pitch dark. One of our friends, Sam, had a thermal camera with him that he was playing with, so we thought a few of his photos would make an interesting blog subject.
We always talk about how good a reindeer’s coat is during the Hill Trips – up to 10,000 hairs per square inch of the skin, with a percentage of those hairs (the ‘guard hairs’) being hollow to trap in body heat, and the remaining hairs forming an incredibly dense undercoat. This coat is designed to keep reindeer alive in incredibly cold environments; the recorded coldest temperature that reindeer have been found alive in is -72 degrees Celsius. Thankfully in Siberia and not Scotland!
These are female reindeer Turtle and Mangetout in this picture. You can see that they don’t show up as much as you might expect, and this is down to that super efficient thick coat that is trapping their body warmth in. Most heat is lost around their eyes and muzzles, and you can see heat retained within their coats where the hair is slightly parted.
A little bit of heat is being lost around the base of Scully’s antlers too, but her antlers themselves are in hard bone just now, with no velvet skin covering them – as you can see there is no heat at all coming from them.
Another setting on the camera, showing in colour this time. Again the eyes and muzzle are most obvious, this time on Merida, along with her legs where her coat isn’t as thick.
This photo is interesting for a couple of reasons. This is me (Hen), and look at how much heat is being lost at my neck. My body is showing up relatively well too, although perhaps not as much as expected – however in this picture I’m wearing a long-sleeved thermal top, a t-shirt, a jumper, a bodywarmer and a waterproof jacket, as well as a neck buff and gloves (it was a very cold night, in my defense)! Yet still my body is showing up as warmer on average than a reindeer’s – with a couple less layers on I would have been glowing like the sun!
The other (more) interesting thing in this photo is the set of antlers in the middle of it, belonging to Pip’s big female calf, who’s grown amazing antlers for a calf this year. Unlike all the adult reindeer in these pics, the calf’s antlers are still covered with velvet skin – but one is dark and one is light. At this time of year the blood supply to the calves’ antlers is cutting off, so here the right hand antler is still vascular (has a blood supply) whilst the left hand one has already lost it’s supply. Sure enough when Sam pointed this out, I touched her antlers briefly and the right hand one was still warm but the left one stone cold. How cool – we’d have never have known without Sam’s camera!
The castrated male reindeer mostly still have velvet skin on their antlers just now, but unfortunately there were none in this group that we could point the camera at – it would be interesting to see how vascular they are still, if at all. Another time! In the meantime I’ll stand by my statement that antlers are one of the coolest things in the animal kingdom!
Many thanks to Sam Ecroyd for the use of his photos for this blog.
When sorting through antlers recently and selling various sets, I realised that female reindeer Marple has been kind enough to give us hers for the last three years in a row, which is very unusual. By ‘give’, I mean that she cast them in the hill enclosure, giving us a higher chance of coming across them as compared to losing them outside the fenced area – where they are rarely found. How kind of her!
Marple with a very characteristic expression!
Although I don’t have any of the sets here anymore, I do retain photos of each set sold for my records, so this seems like a good opportunity to talk about similarities from year to year for antler growth for a particular reindeer.
Marple grows what I would classify as a very ‘typical’ set of antlers for a reindeer – average size for cow antlers, with a ‘blade’ at the base on one side (the tine which comes down towards the nose), front points – originating a little higher – pointing forwards somewhat like a stag beetle’s pincers, and then upright shafts which have multiple tines coming off them.
One of my most regular questions on the Hill Trip is whether or not reindeer grow the same shape of antlers each year. The answer is emphatically a yes, though by no means identical. The photos below show Marple’s antlers from age 3, 4 and 5, and you can see they have the same basic layout from year to year.
Antlers age 3Antlers age 4Antlers age 5
But antlers vary hugely, so here’s a composite photo of a ‘pair’ of antlers from two very different bull reindeer, by way of illustrating the differences between individuals whilst still showing the basic layout of the blade, front points and upright sections.
Antlers from bulls Bandy and Gandi – Bandy’s is extremely simple up at the top and Gandi’s far more elaborate (but missing the blade at the base as it was on the other antler of the pair, of which I don’t have a photo).
So what affects how antlers vary from reindeer to reindeer? The answer is primarily genetics. Antler growth is genetically inherited, so a reindeer with parents with rather simple antler growth is unlikely to grow anything too fancy, and vice versa. One of the reasons that our big lad Sherlock grows such enormous antlers is that genes for excellent, huge antler growth run in his family line; both his mum Caddis and dad Atlantic grew huge antlers themselves – Caddis exceptionally so for a female. Marple grows very similar antlers to her mum Ochil, as seen below:
Marple’s mum Ochil (with Marple as a newborn calf!) showing the similarity of her antlers to Marple’s (inset).
Environmental factors affect antler growth too. Having enough energy to grow good headgear is dependent on being in good enough condition, so the grazing abundance and quality is important, which is obviously heavily influenced by the weather. Really hot weather can mean reindeer spend more time lying on snow patches to keep cool, or jogging about to try and evade flies that are buzzing around them, leading to less available grazing time. As I write it’s early July and 9 degrees and raining outside. I’m still having to wear a thermal top under my normal layers and I’m generally pretty grumpy about that fact, but the reindeer are loving life – grazing constantly with no flies around them at all. Every cloud…
Finally, a big part of antler growth is to do with body condition. This can be linked to environmental factors as we’ve just talked about, but other things also affect it, for example illness. A reindeer fighting an illness concentrates their energy on preserving body condition, and antler growth pauses as a result. It will start again if and when the reindeer recovers, but the damage is done and the antlers end up smaller, or slightly malformed, compared to a ‘normal’ year.
Merida with lovely antlers and no calf, and the following year with a much poorer set, but a calf at foot
Female reindeer raising a calf need lots of energy to produce milk, so their antlers often suffer over the summer months, being smaller and often rather wonky. Some reindeer are prime candidates for this – looking at you, Merida! – whilst Marple actually doesn’t struggle too much. At 6 years old she’s in the prime of her life and has energy to spare, so both a big calf and decent antlers in the same season are achievable. However, the difference is still noticeable to some extent: here are those three photos again – the first pair grown when Marple was three, with no calf at foot, and the second two grown in the subsequent years but both times with a calf at foot. The first pair are slightly taller and perhaps a little more elegant, whilst the others are a touch shorter and a bit ‘squatter’ (although a little chunkier as Marple matured).
Who takes a holiday at the beginning of May? Yep, three full-time reindeer herders! Myself, Fiona, and Lotti got back on the 8th of May to 13 calves already romping around on the hill. What a treat to see them all and catch up properly on all the news from home.
We got straight in to the thick of it and the calves kept on coming. Hill Trips were fully booked during the bank holidays and Whitsun Week. We had some shorts and t-shirt weather and some FULL waterproofs and warm hat kinda weather. We’ve also been busy in the office running our Crowdfunder campaign which is going incredibly well (please check it out here if you haven’t seen it yet: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/a-reindeer-experience-for-all). Adoptions are still flying out the office and the June newsletter is being written. Oh, and the brand-new Reindeer Centre went up before our eyes in around 3 days in the middle of the month! An action-packed month!
Just a reminder – we won’t reveal the names of the new mothers until after we’ve let our adopters know in the June newsletter so I’ve tried to be deliberately vague. Enjoy… !
8th of May: On my first day back to work I have the pleasure of being the first person to lay eyes on this tiny lass. Ignore her blue toes – we always spray their navel with an antiseptic spray and I accidently got her foot!10th of May: As I fed the cows and calves this little dude comes to say hello.11th of May: The father to around half of this year’s calves!! Sherlock looking very proud of himself.15th of May: Little and Large. Big bull Spartan walks past a mum and her new calf!16th of May: Zambezi is no longer a calf! She’s now classed as a yearling, but is still just a beautiful! 17th of May: Calf peek-a-boo! This wee one is still not brave enough to come say hello.17th of May: Calves come in a variety of colours from pale to dark.17th of May: Merida and her seven year old son Dr Seuss sharing a moment together!20th of May: Another cutie with distinctive dark eyebrows.22nd of May: Aztec on a very ‘atmospheric’ Hill Trip! His favourite time of the day is the hand feeding session, this is him recovering.26th of May: Four-day-old calf, he’s small but doing very well!27th of May: This is where we found Ochil this morning! She’d managed to break-in to the lichen store and was having the time of her life.29th of May: A gaggle of chilled out calves on our Hill Trip.30th of May: Dr Seuss again, this time with his younger bro Ärta.
January has seen the last few Hill Trips of the Christmas holidays and then the start of our closed period where we can crack on with various office and maintenance jobs such as repairing holes in our waterproof kit (thanks Lotti for keeping us dry!) and oiling the Christmas harness ready to be stored for the next 10 months.
The entire reindeer herd roams freely in the hills at this time of year over two locations. Tilly looks after one group, and we look after the herd here which wander the Cairngorms. We tend to visit them every other day (when the weather allows) to check on our wonderful furry friends. Of course, they’re totally fine and are in their element over the winter months but they won’t turn down a free meal. I think it’s mostly for the herders benefit that we go up and see them else we’d all probably go a bit mad without our reindeer fix.
The HUGE thing which is also going on this January is the exhibition has been demolished so it’s been all hands on deck, taking things down, sorting and storing things to be kept, cutting trees, clearing brash, ripping up boardwalks, loading trailers etc. Here’s a selection of photos from what has turned out to be a rather action packed ‘quiet’ season! We look forward to reopening the shop and taking Hill Trips from Saturday the 10th of February.
2nd of January: A wonderful day for a Hill Trip.3rd of January: 15 year old Ibex leading the free ranging herd.5th of January: Cassie overseeing the feeding of the calves.10th of January: The herd emerging from the mist on a beautiful atmospheric day. Merida at the front.10th of January: Pavlova with one of the biggest sets of antlers this winter.11th of January: Snoozy Orinoco and mum Pinto.13th of January: Ben leading the herd in for a free lunch. Pinto and Orinoco at the front!14th of January: Lace and her son Limpopo in the snow. Lace is a strong leader, and tends to be at the front of the free ranging herd as they come to our call.14th of January: Sisters in the snow! Danube and her older sister Sorbet. Their mum Brie was just next to them too, but I missed the full family portrait.19th of January: Herd on the move! Pinto and Orinoco, Lace and Limpopo and Hopscotch lead the charge.22nd of January: We left the reindeer to it today, which meant we spent the morning clearing the chaos in the paddocks after the demolition of the exhibition. Here’s Lotti, Andi and Lisette hard at work.24th of January: Amy leading the free ranging herd. 24th of January: Colin and Cameron on the site of our old exhibition. The Arctic Shed is the only part currently still standing.
What a lovely herd, but how do you learn all their names?
Reindeer identification is definitely one of the most challenging aspects of the work here at the Reindeer Centre. Of course there are a few individual reindeer that are very distinctive and easy to spot like Sherlock with those enormous antlers and Dr Suess with his with white nose. I’m also pretty confident telling apart the two white yearling males (99 and Mr Whippy) as long as they’re not too far away!
Sherlock is a very distinctive boy with big antlers.Most visitors to the hill will be able to recognise Dr Seuss within a few mins of meeting him.
I’ve been taking as many opportunities as I can to try to get to know who’s who for the less obvious members of the herd. During the summer months while I’m here, the hill enclosure is home to a lovely smaller herd made up of some of the bulls. It’s a good time to try to learn a few reindeer while they’re part of a smaller group and I can see them most days.
The ear tags on the reindeer are colour coded depending on the year they are born, for example last years calves all have red ear tags (I was lucky enough to be volunteering the day they were tagged!). As a rule, I tend to look for any distinguishing features first like coat colour, markings, antler shape and size, and body size. After that, I’ll try to spot what colour the ear tag is. Some of the older reindeer are easier because there are fewer to choose from with that year’s colour ear tag.
Zoom showing off his red ear tag. But it’s his white face markings and cheeky character which give his identity away!
As well as the more obvious physical features, its been really helpful to speak to the other herders to get hints and tips on how they remember who’s who. For example, Sheena pointed out that Poirot’s antlers come out straight from his forehead like two fingers or the number “11” and his number is “211”. Isla told me how she remembers Arta’s name because the pattern on his nose looks like artwork and Mollie told me that Cicero has the biggest of the silvery coloured antlers.
Poirot having a snooze in the Paddocks. The unique shape of his left antler helps Fran identify him.
This week I learned that Merida, Dr. Suess’ mum, also has a lovely white face and I was able to spot my personal favourite, Beanie, thanks to her lovely speckly nose and the fact that she was with a group of two cows with their calves.
Merida on the left has a very distinctive white hourglass face markings. But who are the others?! Chickpea is in the middle and Solero on the right.
However, often, just when I get the hang of this ID game, things start to change. The boys summer coats don’t really last more that a few weeks it seems so no sooner was I was feeling very confident identifying Lupin and Kernel with their beautiful dark summer coats they’re both already growing their winter coats! We’re also bringing some of the girls into the enclosure which is adding ever more complexity to the task. My ID skills are definitely a work in progress and I’m loving taking every opportunity to watch the herd and learn who everybody is.
Lupin in his short dark summer coat at the end of June……2 months later at the end of August, Lupin is growing through his winter coat and is looking more silvery.Fran helping to bring some more free ranging girls into the enclosure. Yet more names to learn!
This is the second installment of Emm’s fantastic blog. Read part one by clicking HERE.
Emm and Druid on a Hill Trip.
The Breeding Season
Whilst I was there, there were 2 bulls with their girls in the hill enclosure separated in different areas. One group was Sherlock and his girls over on Silver Mount. He was laid back. Then the other group was Morse and his girls. Morse was a bit more aggressive and would pace the fence grunting. He was very protective of his girls.
Sherlock with his girls.Morse doing an excellent job as a breeding bull.
Chilling With Reindeer
Fiona, Joe and Andi went to Sherlock and his girls over on Silver Mount, the big hill in the hill enclosure, to check temperatures and do some vaccinations. Lotti and I moved Morse and his girls to a different part of the hill enclosure. We separated him with a few of his girls into a separate pen area so we were safe. Reindeer bulls with their girls can be very aggressive and can charge at you. We had moved them so we could give them vaccinations. Mushy was being chased around by some of the reindeer but it is not good to have them running around before a vaccination so I helped Lotti separate Mushy and Pinto off together into their own area. Suddenly, a mountain hare ran out of the shed and stopped in the middle of the reindeer. It was about 2 metres away from me. It was so exciting. The mountain hare and the reindeer stared at each other for a few seconds then the reindeer charged at it and then it ran away. What a lovely experience. Lotti and I then had to wait for Andi, Fiona and Joe. Whilst we waited, we chilled with the reindeer. I got to spend some quality time with my adopted reindeer called Scully. It was so nice and special spending quality time with her. I hadn’t been able to see her much as she had been in with Morse. Some of Morse’s girls had calves with them and I hadn’t got to know these calves yet so I was able to get to know them whilst Morse was separated. When Fiona, Joe and Andi got to us, some of Morse’s girls got vaccinations. Andi and I put Morse’s and his girls’ breakfast down in their usual part of the hill enclosure and then Morse and his girls were let back out to have their breakfast.
Emm enjoying spending time with Scully who is looking particularly cheeky!
Walking Calves and Reindeer Around Glenmore
To get the calves used to being handled and having head collars on, we take them away from their mums in the hill enclosure for a few days and keep them down in the Paddocks. We take about 2 calves at a time. In the mornings before the Reindeer Centre opens, we take some of the Paddock adult reindeer and the calves out on a walk around Glenmore. We sandwich the calves between the adult reindeer. The adult reindeer are the role models for the calves. One morning, I walked Dr Seuss, Bond and the 2 calves Popsicle and Vanilla to the Pine Martin Bar and back with Hen and Amy. I led Bond. On another morning with Mel and Lisette we walked Athens, Clouseau, Frost, Dr Seuss and the calf called Zoom. This time I led Dr Seuss and Frost.
Reindeer Centre and Office Jobs
There were always lots of jobs to do at the Reindeer Centre. On some afternoons, I poo picked the woods where the Paddock reindeer go at night. If reindeer have been changed in the Paddocks, I switched the reindeer ID cards over in the exhibition so visitors would know who was who. I checked the adopters gift packs to make sure everything was there, tidied and restocked the shop. The magnets and glass reindeer were very popular. Some afternoons, I tidied the exhibition and antler making area and wiped down the surfaces. I put strawboard in the adopters envelopes to protect the adoption gift packs. For the October Newsletter, they put a photo of the reindeer in with the newsletter with a sticky label on the back giving update of what the reindeer have been up to so I stuck the sticky labels onto the back of the photos.
I also talked to visitors in the Paddocks and answered their questions. One afternoon I was talking to a visitor and a child ran to get me as Popsicle the calf had got her antler in a wire mesh bit of the fence. I untangled Popsicle’s antler and she was ok.
Reindeer Off to the Free-range
With Lotti and Cameron we led 5 older girls from the top corridor in the hill enclosure back on to the free range. This was the time of year that the reindeer would be moved to the free-range for the winter. The reindeer were Dixie, Lulu, Fly, Wapiti and Pavlova. Lotti put spot on (protecting from ticks) on to Fly. The other 4 reindeer had already had it. Lotti took a photo of Wapiti for their adoption photo and Dixie came and ate out of the hand feed bag I was holding. When we let them go it was so lovely seeing them go out onto the free-range.
Dixie, Lulu, Pavlova, Fly and Wapiti heading out to free range.
Splitting Calves from their Mums
One morning I helped to move some of the calves around between the Paddocks and hill. First, we took Frost, Clouseau , Sunny and Zoom out of the paddocks and took them up into the hill enclosure and I led Clouseau and Zoom on this occasion. The 2 calves we wanted to take back down were with their mums and the bull Morse so we had to split Morse and his girls first to get the 2 calves and their mums. The 2 calves were Popsicle and Vanilla. Popsicle’s mum is Caterpillar and Vanilla’s mum is Ochil. After we managed to get them we put Morse and the rest of his girls back into their part of the hill enclosure. We took Caterpillar and her calf Popsicle, Ochil and her calf Vanilla, as well a 2 other reindeer Bond and Olmec off the hill. When we got to Brenda we loaded Bond, Olmec and the 2 calves into Brenda whilst Andi took the calves’ mums back up the hill to Morse. We then took the reindeer to the Paddocks at the Centre. In the Paddocks, Popsicle and Vanilla grunted for their mums for a bit as it was the first time they had been away from their mums. They would see their mums in a few days time after getting used to be handled and walked on a head collar.
Vanilla before coming down to the Paddocks.
Hill Trips
On the Hill Trips, I often would escort the back of the line of people whilst we walked to the hill enclosure and reindeer. I would sometimes put some food out for the reindeer and then count them to make sure all the reindeer were there. I would sometimes give Sunny his milk.
Emm bottle feeding Sunny.
I sometimes did the hand feed talk to the group of visitors so they knew what to do in hand feeding and what to expect. I gave out the hand feed so they could hand feed the reindeer. I talked to people and answered their questions. I sometimes took photos of visitors if they wanted photos taken with the reindeer.
This all gives you an idea of the many things that I do when volunteering with the reindeer and herders. It is such a special place and I love my time no matter how busy I am. I am really looking forward to my next trip.
It’s the last blog of the month and so time for another photo dump! March has been a relatively quiet month, with the Paddocks shut and fewer visitors around, but it’s still felt very busy for us herders! Generally only four members of staff work each day throughout March. The mornings are taken up by two herders heading out to find and move the free ranging herd, and the other two herders lead the Hill Trip at 11am. So, by the time we’ve all had lunch the afternoons seem to totally fly by. We also had some very snowy and wintery weather in the middle of the month, making our lives a little more interesting and keeping us on our toes! Hopefully, we’ve managed to tick off all the important jobs in time for the Easter Holidays which kick off on the 1st of April.
1st of March: Sunny has spent the majority of January and February free ranging in the hills with the big boys. He and a few other youngsters were brought off the hill on the last day of February and spent a few days in the Paddocks. So of course it was only right Sunny got an invite to dinner!! 2nd of March: Sheena and Lotti take some routine temperatures. Whilst we don’t expect any at this time of year, it’s good handling practice for the reindeer to make sure we can still catch them whilst they’re out free ranging. In this photo it’s Beret’s turn, but Holy Moley is patiently waiting for her go, anything to be allowed into the white bag! 3rd of March: Can you spot Fiona leading the herd at the front? Meanwhile I’m being “sheep dog” at the back, making sure everybody follows. Vienna and her calf Kulfi are the last two reindeer… as usual!6th of March: Snow again! This time I’m at the front of the herd leading them in to the visit location, whilst Andi is gently encouraging them at the back. Here we have the beautiful Lace and if you look VERY closely you might be able to spot a golden eagle in the sky above the herd! 7th of March: After demolishing lots of hand feed, Pumpkin is in need of a wee rest!7th of March: 99 and Tub, two ten-month-old calves having a play fight!8th of March: What a day!! Popsicle and her mum Caterpillar looking gorgeous in the snow.9th of March: Another cracking blue bird day! Here’s Merida and Beret saying hello,12th of March: Solero chilling out after a Hill Trip whilst people enjoy milling around the herd in the background.13th of March: A very wintery Hill Trip for me and Cameron! This is why we tell people they need full waterproofs and walking boots/wellies at this time of year.14th of March: Moving the herd in a snow storm.14th of March: The morning ritual of allowing the calves to feed out of the bags first, whilst we prevent older reindeer from sneaking in (yes you, Holy Moley).15th of March: Can’t resist including this picture of Lolly (Oatcake’s calf). What a cutie. 18th of March: Leading the herd in to position for the Hill Trip, the fab trio at the front leading the way as always- Lace, Fly and Sika!19th of March: Sorbet, Cornetto and his mum Helsinki posing in the sun!20th of March: What a glorious morning to go retrieve and deposit the herd ready for the Hill Trip!23rd of March: Sisters Suebi and Turtle hanging out together, strong family resemblance between these two! 24th of March: Moving the herd with Hen on a very atmospheric morning. The reindeer were particularly lazy today, they did not come to our call, so we got a great morning work out walking up to them!27th of March: There are a few cows on the hill who are now beginning to grow their antlers for 2023. This is Ryvita who is showing off her wee velvet buds. 28th of March: Morven (currently looking a bit lopsided) and her calf Mochi waiting for the food to be put out.
I can’t help but smile when I see a reindeer yawn. They have the most wonderful facial expressions, produce the best sounds, and have the wobbliest of chins. I always try to capture the moment on camera but I’m usually way too slow and miss the moment. Over the past year I’ve been compiling a folder of my best reindeer yawns ready to produce a blog one day. Despite reindeer herding being my full time job, at the rate I’m going it would probably take several years before I’ve captured a decent amount of silly pictures and videos.
Sooo… I mentioned my blog idea to Hen and Andi recently whist *working very hard* in the office. Of course, they came to my rescue and more or less instantly produced many glorious pictures of yawning reindeer to bolster my collection.
So here goes, in no order or for any great reason other than hopefully making people smile. Enjoy!
Check out the chin wobble on Dr Seuss! Video by Andi – October 2021.Magnus – March 2017.Christie – December 2021.Holy Moley finding fame tiring – March 2022. Ibex – March 2022. Kiruna – yawning or perhaps laughing at a good joke?! Summer 2021. Sambar – September 2019.Hamish yawning on the job! Christmas training – September 2013.Stripping your velvet is clearly a tiring business for Scolty – September 2017.Sholto – looking very majestic mid yawn! September 2011.Kipling on the free-range – August 2018.Merida – August 2018.Camembert – free-ranging April 2022Malawi – the oldest reindeer currently in the herd, aged 16, definitely deserves a yawny snooze in the spring sunshine – April 2022. Moulting is very tiring for Celt – June 2021.
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about Kipling, one of the reindeer born in 2017 (click here to read the first installment). This week I will write about two more reindeer born in that year and given names belonging to the theme famous authors and poets.
Dr Seuss
Dr Seuss was the first calf I ever got to know due to his unmistakable white face passed down from his mother Merida. From a young age he was full of cheek and character and also had a large appetite for food. As a little dumpy chubster he was probably the reindeer I gave the most fuss to during my first winter in the form of food and cuddles, although the latter I enjoyed more than him. Reindeer aren’t ones for being fussed but it was hard to resist for this little man.
Dr Seuss and his mum Merida in September 2017 – both with very distinctive face markings.Joe (with flowing long locks!) and Dr Seuss.Dr Seuss in February 2018.
Being a male, Dr Seuss went through his 1st and 2nd year in true teenage fashion, spending most of his time at the farm and tussling the other young bulls his age during the autumn. In the summer months he would be in our hill enclosure fattening up and meeting visitors. He’s always loved his food and will never let an opportunity go a miss if he spots the white handfeed bag.
Teenage Dr Seuss in September 2019.
At 3 years old and fully grown Dr Seuss was trained to become one of our Christmas reindeer and pull the sleigh on events. Being so relaxed and friendly by this point he took to it very well and looked super impressive with his distinctive large, wide antlers. He was so good, he also featured on the Channel 4 programme ‘A Baby Reindeer’s first Christmas’ as one of the stars of the show pulling Santa’s sleigh with a team which included his fellow co-star and reindeer celebrity, Holy Moley. Since then Dr Seuss has featured in a couple of other film or photography events but I don’t believe I am allowed to reveal them just yet. Dr Seuss is one of our friendliest and still most distinctive reindeer, he’s a lovely lad who all herders have taken a strong liking too. From a small round calf he’s now a whopping size with a huge backside that’s important fat reserves for the winter. That’s my excuse for him anyway.
Dr Seuss pulling the sleigh in November 2021 in the middle of Bradford – what a star!Back on the snowy hills in December 2021, after a weekend away on sleigh-pulling duty!
Christie
Caddis and Christie as a young calf. Christie aged 4 months old – check out those antlers! She certainly takes after her mum.
From a young age Christie has always been a very pretty reindeer with her white spotted face and legs. Her mother Caddis was a true great of our reindeer herd and it was actually her who caught my attention when I first started getting to know the herd. At the time Caddis was more or less the matriarch of the herd, she was one of the biggest females in both size of body and antlers and for as long as I knew her, always seemed to produce the biggest calf each year. With all her majesty though, she never seemed too pushy with the other reindeer and was very tame. As a young female Christie never left her side until eventually Caddis had another calf, now known as Sherlock, a year later and Christie was naturally pushed away. Unlike her mother, Christie in nature is a lot shyer. As a yearling she spent almost a whole year free- ranging and although I rarely saw her I was always interested to see how she was getting on. Unfortunately Caddis sadly passed away before Christie was 2 years old and as her last female calf, I wanted Christie to one day take after her mother and become as big and strong as she was. As a two year old Christie did spent more time in the enclosure during the winter when I moved to the Reindeer Centre. Like Kipling I would often try to give her a little extra feed and handling to encourage her to be more tame but she’s never quite become completely relaxed around people. I do see her sometimes handfeed from visitors and stand in and amongst groups of people more but not as regularly as our tame or greedier reindeer. I’ve began to enjoy this characteristic about Christie though, I know she’ll never be like her mum was with regards to how she acted around people but with a little encouragement Christie will still accept your presence and a tasty handful of food. This year I was so excited to see Christie become a mum and give birth to her first healthy calf. A surprisingly dark male called Akubra, who we named after our hat themed year. Like Caddis once did, Christie has produced the largest calf of the year and has also grown an incredible set of antlers for a mother. It’s really nice to see that Christie has taken after her mother in this way and has carried on the legacy of family genetics. I still think the best of Christie is yet to come and although she may not be the tamest of reindeer, I’ll keep doing my best give her that extra bit of food during the coming winter months and see if she grows in confidence as time goes on.
Looking fabulous free-ranging in August 2020.Christie and her young calf that we later named Akubra – May 2021. Joe and Christie – March 2022.
We lost one of our old girls a few weeks back, Fonn. She was a really sweet character in the herd and got to the grand age of 17, only one month off her 18th birthday. Considering anything over 10 years old is doing well this meant she did really well! Although the last few years she was starting to look her age she continued to stay in good condition, giving us no cause for concern. This was helped by us letting her get her head in the bag of feed of course!
Fonn in her heyday
As a youngster she had her fair share of calves of which her son Rubiks and daughter Merida are still going strong. Her oldest daughter Joni we lost in 2020 to old age, however Joni also had a few calves over the years so it’s a good sized family. She has 5 grandchildren currently in the herd – Bourbon, Jenga, Jute, Dr Seuss and Ärta. She also has one great grandson, Jelly. I wont get into cousins and second cousins cos I’ll be here all day.
With daughter Merida, back in 2012
In the past 7 years Fonn hasn’t had a calf and as a result lived to a grand age. She was always super reliable when bringing the herd in for feeding time and if we ever needed to catch a reindeer out to walk on a halter as a lure for the others to follow then Fonn was a good one to do this. Last year she re-formed a very sweet bond with her 9 year old son, Rubiks. The two of them remained side by side for 7 months through winter, spring and summer 2020 which considering they’d spent no time together in the years previous to that was quite amazing they remembered each other. Dr Seuss, her 4 year old grandson has turned into one of the most recognisable characters in the herd not only through looks with his big antlers, white face and dark body but he also featured as one of the main reindeer in last year’s TV show ‘A Baby Reindeer’s First Christmas’.
Rubiks licking Fonn’s face, back in January 2020
Always friendly to visitors!
Many reindeer come and go throughout the years and although they are all great characters some leave a slightly bigger hole in your heart than others and Fonn was certainly one of them. Of course it is sad, however the sadness is outweighed by knowing she had such a fantastic life up here in the Cairngorm Mountains. She has succession through her wonderful family which is a mix of Christmas reindeer, females and young bulls so the line will go on and she can be proud of what’s to come.
The last ‘adopt’ photo of Fonn (photo taken for her adoption certificates), looking old but still very well last autumn.
