Ob – The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

26th July 202425th July 2024

Photo Blog: July 2024

By the end of July the reindeer finally start looking themselves after what seems like a very long moult. They’re now mostly in their short, sleek and darker summer coats and their lovely velvet antlers are looking amazing. It’s been a generally cold summer so far which the reindeer have enjoyed as it means less pesky flies to bother them.

We’ve been busy doing morning harness training sessions with the boys and carrying LOTS of feed up the hill as their appetite has ramped up – their putting all their energy into those growing lovely antlers and big bellies. Some of the free roaming females have been seen by other herders (sadly not me this month yet!) so no pics of them in this blog, but the ones who have been seen have all looked very well, I always love hearing who has been spotted! The office is busy with sorting out Crowdfunding rewards and the usual adoptions. Plus it’s now peak summer holidays so lots of fully-booked Hill Trips and a busy shop.

2nd of July: Ob and Nile and a very scruffy herd behind.

2nd of July: Kernel already looking very smart in his summer coat.

3rd of July: Amy with Adzuki harness training.

4th of July: Jimmy looking curiously at my white bag.

8th of July: Can’t resist this pic of Mr Whippy’s hairy hot pants! Sorry Mr Whippy for the unflattering photo – you’ll look fantastic once you’ve moulted. To add to the strange look, the yellow on his antlers is for sun protection.

9th of July: Harness training on a beautiful morning!

9th of July: Tub has forgotten to moult and is one of the hairiest reindeer in the herd at the moment.

13th of July: A detective and inspector walk up a boardwalk… Sherlock and Morse first in line for food!

14th of July: I spent the morning at the hill farm feeding the reindeer there and also the pigs and these handsome Soay rams.

16th of July: Jester and his enormous antlers.

17th of July: Fiona feeding the herd their breakfast.

22nd of July: Great to see Athens back in our hill enclosure after spending the first part of the summer at the Hill Farm with Tilly.

23rd of July: Aztec (Athens’ big bro) is also back from the farm. Voted greediest reindeer in the herd in 2022 (see here) and I don’t think he’s lost the title!

25th of July: Morse and Poirot chilling out together after the Hill Trip.

Ruth

17th May 202415th May 2024

Reindeer Lookalikes

In January 2023 I wrote a blog about reindeer looking like their close relatives: https://www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/2023/01/20/mini-me-reindeer/

As we are now in calving season, I have recently heard myself saying “she looks just like her big sister when she was a calf” or fellow reindeer herder Lotti saying “she looks exactly like her mum as a new born”.

So, it got me thinking, perhaps it’s time for another blog about family resemblances.

Emmental’s boys!

Emmental in 2020, with her pale coat and white nose.

Emmental is a beautiful, mature breeding female, now aged 11 years old. She is rather pale in colour with a white muzzle. Over the years she has been a successful mother and has three surviving sons named Olmec, Iskrem and Ob. Yes, we chose names all beginning with vowels. But that’s not their only similarity. They also all have white noses, just like mum! Looking back through photos of them all as calves it’s easy to confuse who is who.

Emmental herself aged four months old, in 2013.

Olmec as an adult with very similar face markings to his mum!

Iskrem also at four months old with the same beautiful colouring.

Emmental with her calf six-month-old calf Ob who also has the white nose (November 2023).

Pony’s girls!

Pony was a rather notorious reindeer in our herd with serious amounts of attitude! She was born in 2011 and sadly passed away a couple of years ago aged 11, which is a fair age for a reindeer. She left us with four surviving offspring – two males Poirot and Cowboy, and two females called Suebi and Turtle. It’s the girls who can sometimes make me confused! Their both normal-coloured, their antler shapes are similar, and they have also both inherited some of Pony’s attitude! We have nicknamed Turtle, “Snapping Turtle” as she often waves her head and smacks her lips at us if we can walk past her too closely.

Pony in 2016 aged 5. Pony herself was very easy to recognise as she was missing the tips of her ears, but look at the shape of her antlers compared to her daughters Suebi and Turtle…

Just for good measure, here’s Pony as a three year old too! Note lack of ear tips so very easy to identify.

Suebi and Turtle are both breeding females. Suebi has the lovely Scoop, a two year old male, and also is the mother of the twins Elbe and Alba. Turtle has Amur, who has just turned one and is proving to be a very sweet-natured lad. Time will tell whether they produce any lookalike females!

I’ll leave it there for now but who knows, perhaps I can write a third installment in the future as there are lots of other examples within the herd.

Ruth

29th December 202328th December 2023

Photo Blog: December 2023

On the last Friday of each month throughout 2023 I have shared photos that I’ve taken on my phone to hopefully give everyone an idea of the goings on at the Reindeer Centre. What a complete mix bag of photos this is to finish the year off! December has seen me up and down the A9 and dotting around locally with beautiful teams of reindeer for lots of Christmas events. I’ve done the odd day at the Centre too catching up with the goings on here, with just enough office time to put together this blog. My wonderful colleagues have also been ridiculously busy on events and at the Centre keeping everything going. Getting through gazillions of adoptions packs, leading fully booked Hill Trips and of course Christmas Fun in the Paddocks. This selection of photos doesn’t really do December justice, but it’s a snap shot of what I’ve been up to at least.

30th of November: Couldn’t resist including this one from November. Moving our free ranging herd in the snow!

1st of December: Cassie feeding the calves out of the bag.

2nd of December: Very chilled out reindeer in Aberfeldy after a short parade. In the team we have Dr Seuss, Frost, Haricot, Lupin, Colorado and Limpopo.

4th of December: After two nights away here’s the same team as above returning to the snowy hills.

10th of December: Stenoa and Olympic posing at the front posing with Santa and a pantomime crew.

11th of December: Seven month old calves Colorado and Ob sharing the same puddle.

12th of December: Amazon needing a chin rest.

12th of December: Bordeaux’s beard blowing beautifully in a cold Cairngorm breeze!

15th of December: Walking a team of reindeer out of the enclosure for a local event at the Aviemore Ice Rink.

16th of December: Herder Melanie and I attend a wedding with reindeer at Raemoir House near Banchory. Here they are eating lunch before meeting the bride and groom.

17th of December: A day at Reindeer House for me and spending as much time on the hill as possible! This is the gorgeous Marple and her daughter Mekong with matching billowing beards on the afternoon Hill Trip.

17th of December: The lovely Chickpea has had an excellent year and is in fab condition.

18th of December: Olympic showing off his lack of top teeth at a visit to a primary school in Aberdeen.

22nd of December: Our team very settled at Gleneagles Hotel. From left to right we’ve got Mississippi, Aztec, LX and Olympic.

23rd of December: Mississippi being especially cute!

25th of December: Before spending a few hours in the display pen each day, we take the the the boys for a good walk each morning so they can stretch their legs. For reindeer this means stopping at every tree to have a nibble at the lichen! Here’s Aztec getting some tasty Christmas Day snacks.

28th of December: Turtle and her calf Amur on the hill.

28th of December: Isla’s last day of work (although I’m sure she’ll be back at some point!) so here she is spoiling Alba, one of our hand-reared calves.

Ruth

30th March 201823rd July 2024

World Reindeer Herders – Council Meeting in Salekhard, Northern Russia

On Thursday 22^nd March Tilly and Fiona set off on their journey to the north of Russia where there was a World Reindeer Herders council meeting. This was to be held in Salekhard which is a town at the bottom of the Yamal Peninsula, and also where you find the Nenet reindeer herders. Here are a few photos from their weekend away, we will write a more detailed version of events in our newsletter in June.

For those of you who don’t know where Salekhard is, it’s in northern Siberia.

The view as we flew in over the Tundra and the big frozen area on the right is the River Ob

The first sighting of the Reindeer Peoples Festival – Nenet reindeer herders of the Yamal

Inside a Chum, a traditional Nenet tent. Here they gave us food and tea consisting of raw fish and reindeer as well as salted fish and a reindeer and potato stew. Opposite are other reindeer herders from other regions in Russia.

A Nenet lady in traditional reindeer skin clothing with her reindeer and sled.

Reindeer racing was one of the event the Nenets were taking part in. Four reindeer can pick up a fair speed!

Long reindeer skin boots to keep you warm in their very cold temperatures. Reindeer skin products are the only suitable material in such extreme temperatures.

They really embrace the young reindeer herders, acknowledging that they are their future so this is a photo of us all. Fiona snuck in behind of all the lovely traditional clothing!

There will be a more detailed write up in the next adopters newsletter so keep your eyes peeled!