Tag: Orinoco

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Photo Blog: November 2023

November has been a busy month. We’ve had the first decent snow higher up on the hills, the free ranging reindeer have been showing their beautiful faces at the hill enclosure every few days, adoptions are coming in thick and fast so lots of letters are streaming out of the office, sleigh training has continued in Glenmore and the first Christmas teams have been on the road! The ‘Christmas reindeer’ have all been totally super and have made us very proud. So this truly is a mixed bag of pics that I’ve taken over the past few weeks! Enjoy…

1st of November: Feeding a herd of free ranging cows. Caterpillar is closest to the camera.
3rd of November: Brie looking very soggy!
3rd of November: Poirot looking very handsome.
6th of November: Dante getting a close-up.
7th of November: Winnie and Cameron! Cameron did a lot of bottle feeding of Winnie and Alba (our hand-reared calves) over the summer months and is particularly fond of ‘his girls’.
8th of November: For Isla (back of sleigh) and Cassie (front of sleigh) this is their first Christmas season, but they are total naturals already. Frost is the reindeer with the patchy white face at the front.
12th of November: No reindeer in this pic but what a wonderful office we have above the clouds! You can just make out the thick layer of cloud hanging over Strathspey.
15th of November: 6-month-old Orinoco being gorgeous! She’s a sweet-natured lass who is growing in confidence. She’s definitely not as pushy as some of our calves this year!
16th of November: Marple and her lovely calf Mekong.
18th of November: My first Christmas event of the year. Here’s LX resting his chin before he pulls the sleigh.
19th of November: Another Christmas event for me. Here’s Olmec licking the rain off our sign.
22nd of November: Dr Seuss flanked by Haricot and Adzuki.
23rd of November: The free ranging herd brought themselves into the enclosure looking for a free lunch! Torch closest to the camera.

Ruth

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Photo Blog: August 2023

August has been a fun month. The first half of the month was super busy with holiday makers but as Scottish schools went back the second half of the month got slightly quieter with visitors and we’ve been having lots of free range action which I love. Generally we start to see the free ranging females more as they come down in altitude as the weather gets cooler. Towards the end of the month we also start bringing in the mums and their calves back into the enclosure. They spend June through to August/early September out roaming the hills learning how to be little wild reindeer and enjoying all the best grazing, but when the autumn rolls around it’s time for them to learn what a feed bag is and in time, how to walk on a halter etc. The following photos are a small snapshot of what’s been occurring…

8th of August – Fab and her mum Juniper out on the free range. Juniper is currently the only reindeer in the herd who doesn’t grow antlers.
9th of August – Okapi out free ranging. I had her on a halter as she was my chosen ‘Judas reindeer’, helping me move a small herd of cows from one hillside to another.
11th of August – The herd in the enclosure relaxing in between Hill Trips.
12th of August – Sorbet, a yearling female, grazing between the big boys! Behind her is Dr Seuss and Morse, and she’s sandwiched between Spartan and Poirot.
14th of August – Joe feeding the herd in the enclosure their breakfast. Vanilla is the white reindeer at the back.
17th of August – The herd on the move in the beautiful late afternoon sunshine.
18th of August – After finding a few too many holes, Amy B and Cameron decide to replace the tonne bag that sits underneath the cement mixer where we mix the reindeer food. But which one to go for? Big dilemma to discuss in the office.
20th of August – Andi and a sea of velvet antlers. Dr Seuss and his distinctive white face at the front.
21st of August – After finding a bunch of cows and calves up on the Cas car park on her day off, I roped Fran in to helping me bring them in to the enclosure. Was a very fun and successful afternoon.
22nd of August – Another busy morning, bringing yet more cows and calves into the enclosure. Here’s Hopscotch and calf Zambezi.
26th of August – Lupin looking incredibly handsome even on a soggy day.
27th of August – Lovely to have males, females and the calves all in the enclosure. The cow lying down is the lovely Marple and Sherlock is in the big bull in the background.
28th of August – Turtle back in the enclosure after a summer out. Both her and her calf are looking good.
29th of August – Another free range mission to go and retrieve this little cutie, Orinoco, and her mum Pinto. They are both looking super and are now back in our hill enclosure for the autumn,
29th of August – Sherlock stripping his velvet. The next day we brought him down to the Paddocks.

Ruth

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