reindeer - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

8th May 20263rd May 2026

Volunteer Blog: Emm’s Visit – October 2025 (Part 2)

Time for part two of Emm’s wonderful blog, picking up where we left off last time – a broken Brenda and reindeer to herd!…

The next day I helped Lotti and Ruth walk the calves Oro and Flamenco around Glennmore. Akubra and Kulfi were the adult reindeer who came with us. I walked in front to make sure there were no dogs coming as reindeer are scared of dogs. They think that they are wolves. I also picked up the reindeer poo too if they went to the toilet.

Daisy and I did a very wet, windy and cold Hill Trip. We took the visitors to the Hill Trip spot but the reindeer were high near the ridge and were not coming down. So Daisy went up to encourage them down while I did the hand feed talk to the visitors and talked to them about reindeer facts and told them their names and naming themes. We then were able to feed the reindeer when they had come down with Daisy. We were splitting Sundae off because she is in season. I stayed with Sundae for most of the Hill Trip to keep an eye on her.

After the Hill Trip, I met Ruth and Lotti by the Sugar Bowl carpark and helped take Akubra, Kulfi and 2 calves called Disco and Foxtrot up to the hill enclosure. We were doing a Paddock swap as Disco and Foxtrot had finished their calf training school.

Emm walking Akubra and Foxtrot back to the hill enclosure.

I got very wet and soggy and had water in my wellies. It was like a loch in my wellies. Lol.

A very soggy team of herders! Ruth, Emm, Daisy and Lotti, still smiling despite the miserable weather.

Another day up on the hill, Vienna was looking miserable and sad and she kept going away from the other reindeer. So we put her in the shed area and pen with a friend and kept an eye on her and checking her temperature. The vet came to check her and did some treatments to see if they helped her and to see if it made her feel better. Along with Ruth I joined Daisy and Kate near the end of the Hill Trip. We needed to take Ceilidh’s temperature. We couldn’t catch her so Kate led Glacée, Ceilidh’s mum, and with Ruth I herded Ceilidh from behind to a smaller bit of the enclosure called the temporary corral. Daisy managed to catch Ceilidh to find she did have a temperature so Daisy injected Ceilidh to bring it down. Me and Kate took Glacée and Ceilidh to the shed to keep an eye on Ceilidh. Kate led them and I herded behind.

Glacée and a much brighter Ceilidh after spending some time being cared for by the herders.

The inside jobs I did were sweeping and hoovering around the Reindeer Centre. I also mopped the floor downstairs. I washed the wellies and put them up to dry then away later. I put a sticky label with the reindeer herds news on the back of each newsletter photo. I also put the newsletter and the newsletter photo into envelopes. I put the 1^st year adopt packs together and I also did some shredding. I did feed mixing and hand feed mixing too, poo picking in the Paddocks and also let the reindeer through into their daytime Paddock area for their breakfast. In the evening I put them to bed and give them their tea in the night time Paddock area. I also got taught how to lock the Reindeer Centre’s carpark and swept the steps outside the Reindeer Centre, behind the lift and outside the front.

It is lovely meeting the visitors too on the Hill Trips. It is lovely seeing their reactions when they are amongst the reindeer and when they get to hand feed a reindeer. On most of the Hill Trips, I did the hand feed talk and on one of them I did the introduction talk. I also got to see my adopted reindeer Scully and Zoom while visiting which was fantastic. I met Scully’s calf called Rumba which I was very excited about.

Emm taking a selfie with the lovely Scully and Rumba.

Away from the visitors and Hill Trips and I was able to enjoy spending time with the herders. While I was there they went on a zipwire trek (run by local company G2 Outdoor) on one of the dark evenings and I was very lucky to be invited to join them. It was very exciting. When you went in, a pretend big spider suddenly came down on you and there was a ghost in the toilet. It had lights and Halloween things when you went around. You went over rivers and through trees. You had to do a torch flash saying the next person can go. I had a race with Andi at the end and I went so fast. I really enjoyed myself. It was such great fun. Thank you ever so much everyone for letting me come.

A night of zipping through the trees for the reindeer herders! All smiles from Andi, Emm, Sheena, Daisy, Lotti, Kate, Cameron, and Amy.

On another evening, my reindeer herding friends came around to our holiday cottage for a curry night which was great fun. My Dad and Mum had made lots of curry and we ate and chilled out and I gave them a tour of the holiday cottage. Sheena had brought around a great spider target game which we played. The spiders were sticky and they ended up hanging of the ceiling and one even dropped into Ruth’s curry. Lol.

A wonderful evening of delicious food, great company, and sticky spiders!

Another day I went on a lovely walk with Lotti by Pityoulish Loch and we had cups of tea and sat and chilled out on the pontoon and watched the wildlife. It was a lovely spot.

Lotti and Emm enjoying a lovely walk wildlife spotting.

I met Daisy who works at the Reindeer Centre and her lovely dog Echo who is very clever and we went on a lovely walk to Green Loch and then up through the trees at the back of the Reindeer Centre. I also met Fiona’s and Joe’s lovely puppy called Sanna who is very cute and I also met Alicia who works part time at the Reindeer Centre.

Echo teaching Sanna how to sneak up on the herders and steal the reindeer food!

It was so lovely to spend my spare time with such special friends doing things we all enjoyed. I can’t wait to go back in March 2026. I am counting down to the day. I am so excited.

Emm

1st May 202623rd February 2026

Volunteer Blog: Emm’s Visit – October 2025 (Part 1)

In this latest blog I would like to share some memories from my visit in October 2025. It was very exciting as the new reindeer exhibition was open to visitors with lots of interactive things, videos, information and photo displays. It is so brilliant. The visitors will learn lots of things about reindeer and the history of the herd.

Emm is back, and we’re so thrilled! Emm, Lotti, Amy, and Jig all posing for a team photo!

On my first morning, I walked the calves around Glenmore with EK and Cameron. The calves this year (born in spring 2025) are named after types of dances so I had a lot of fun learning all their names. We walked Ballet and Polka with 2 adult reindeer.

Emm and EK walking Ballet and Polka during calf training.

We were getting them used to everyday things like people, traffic, being led and being handled. Afterwards, Cameron showed me his shed he had built for the reindeer poo bags so they don’t get wet and it is named the poo shed, and it is really good.

There were some new things in the Paddocks. The Santa’s bothy was being built by Alex and Cameron, and they were hoping it would be ready for Christmas. There was also an extended area for the reindeer in their daytime paddock area in the trees.

Jimmy the bull, who had been over on Silvermount in the hill enclosure with his group of girls, had finished his job with them so one morning Lotti, Ben and Cameron led him off the hill as he was going to go back to Tilly’s farm. We were also taking Gazelle off the hill to go back to the farm that morning too.

Boogie relaxing with some of our older boys.

I led Gazelle off the hill to Brenda (the truck we transport reindeer in). Ruth and I went to find Vienna one of Iskrem’s girls as they had been moved into a different part of the hill enclosure and she had become separated from them. Iskrem is a very calm bull. We found Vienna and we had to herd her up the hill, as she didn’t want to be caught, to join Iskrem and his girls. Then we moved them as a group to a different part of the hill enclosure. We were very lucky that day as we saw 6 Black Grouse lekking.

Our hill enclsoure isn’t just home to reindeer.

The day after, I went with Kate, Ruth and Daisy back to Silvermount in the hill enclosure so we could move Jimmy’s girls to where they were meant to be next. Nuii and Fab were missing so Kate went to look for them. We let a few of them out to be with the main herd in the east enclosure in the hill enclosure and I helped Daisy and Ruth take 5 reindeer across the hill enclosure from Silvermount to a different part of the hill enclosure, as they were going to go out onto the free-range soon. I led Orinoco and Suebi. Meanwhile Kate had found Nuii and Fab and brought them back to join the group.

Emm leading Orinoco and Suebi across the hill enclosure.

One day, the free-ranging reindeer were put in a part of the hill enclosure for a few hours so Amy could take Alba off the free-range, who needed to come into the enclosure for a short while.

Meanwhile Kate had gone to find 4 missing reindeer in the hill enclosure as they hadn’t turned up for breakfast or for the 2 Hill Trips and had been missing for the day. They were Pinto and her calf Quickstep and Borlotti and her calf Morris. Morris is such lovely natured and laid-back calf and is pure white meaning he is leucistic. Like some leucistic animals, Morris is deaf.

I helped Amy put the free-range reindeer back out. We took them to the top ridge on the free range, Amy led and I was at the back. Then we went to help Kate who had found the 4 reindeer on Silvermount in the hill enclosure. Pinto had found a bag of handfeed and was eating out of the bag when Kate found them. We led Pinto and Borlotti on halters and their calves followed and I helped Amy herd at the back. We led them across the hill enclosure and took them to the shed to check them out and take their temperatures as reindeer being away from the herd might mean they are ill. Whilst out leading them we were lucky enough to see a mountain hare.

One morning, the reindeer were slow coming down for breakfast in the hill enclosure. Some of the herd were with us and the rest were on Silvermount. As I helped Ruth call them down, Andi went up and herded them down from the top. We were then able to get them in position for the later Hill Trip.

Busby leading the way along the board walk ready for the days Hill Trip.

Unfortunately on our way back down at the end of the day Brenda broke down near the Sugar Bowl car park. The next day, she was towed away to be fixed, a sad sight!

Stay tuned for part two of Emm’s visit in October!

Emm

10th April 20267th April 2026

Reindeer Around the World: The Svalbard Reindeer

Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus

A wonderful past blog written by herder Hen detailing how the species Rangifer tarandus (more commonly known as reindeer) is broken down into seven different subspecies, got me thinking that I didn’t know too much about these differences. What adaptations did each subspecies have to equip them for their differing environments? I decided to start my research with the Svalbard reindeer – the smallest of all the reindeer and only found within the islands of Svalbard.

It is estimated that Svalbard reindeer became isolated from other populations of reindeer around 10,000 years ago when the vast ice sheet covering the Barents Sea melted as the earth warmed after the last ice age. Svalbard then became cut off from mainland Europe, effectively trapping any land mammals.

So, what happened to them 10,000 years ago to equip them with living on an open, isolated, arctic tundra landscape? Unlike other subspecies of reindeer, the Svalbard population dropped its need to migrate, only needing to cover short distances on a regular basis, remaining on mountain ridges and plateaus – continuously exposed to the elements. They also lacked forests for cover and fed primarily on short-growing lichens and vegetation.

The home of the Svalbard reindeer – open plains and Arctic mountains.

Apart from the occasional polar bear… the Svalbard reindeer also doesn’t have the worries that other subspecies have regarding predators. Due to these changes in their food chain and environment, the Svalbard reindeer evolved to have far shorter legs than the other subspecies. They could still reach a maximum speed of 60 to 80km/h but didn’t require the longer legs of other reindeer – so to conserve body heat, their legs became shorter.

*Body heat is lost through a reindeer’s legs due to less fat and blood vessels near to the surface of the skin, so if you don’t need to migrate – grow shorter legs and stay warm!*

Svalbard reindeer running, perfectly displaying how disproportionate their bodies are to their small heads and legs. Perfectly adapted to an environment that doesn’t require movement, but encourages good fat reserves. (Photo credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen)

Another unique adaptation to the Svalbard reindeer is their difference in circadian rhythm to other subspecies of reindeer. Svalbard has an extremely reduced day length in winter months. There are between 100 to 150 days per year during which there is no light and the sun does not rise above the horizon. Research has concluded that the Svalbard reindeer has a mutation in a gene associated with maintaining circadian rhythm, allowing their bodies to cope with lack of sunlight (vitamin D etc.). Another change in the genetic make up of this subspecies in comparison to the others, is a change in the genes associated with eye/ optic nerve development – allowing their eyes to adapt to winter conditions.

Svalbard reindeer have dark eyes, that like other subspecies are able to see into the shorter end of the light spectrum. This allows them to use UV light during twilight periods of the year to see their general surroundings – identifying food sources, other forms of life, etc.

Their diet is very similar to other subspecies of reindeer, feeding on low growing vegetation found along ridges, plateaus and mountain slopes. Feeding to excess on healthy vegetation during summer and then relying on fat reserves and limited grazing during winter when vegetation is limited, but lichen can be found in abundance. The Svalbard population is more of a solitary subspecies than the typical social herd structure of other populations of reindeer. They are often only found in groups of three to five and so over grazing is not as much of a concern in a smaller region, such as Svalbard. However, despite this, starvation is the most common cause of death due to worn teeth grazing on sparse vegetation growing amongst rocky landscapes, or from food frozen into ice pastures.

*Svalbard reindeer grazing on vegetation with areas of ice pasture seen behind them.*

Pick out the areas of low quality grazing amongst the rocks.

Despite their challenges and differences, one thing is for sure… the Svalbard reindeer are one darn cute animal!

*Trying to think of something professional to say here, but all I can think is… STOP IT!*

Okay, no more cute photos! I’ll leave it there until next time when we look at the cool adaptions of another subspecies of the Rangifer tarandus.

Daisy

More reading:
https://polar-latitudes.com/discover/wildlife/svalbard-reindeer/
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-eurasian-arctic-during-the-last-ice-age
https://www.aurora-expeditions.com/eu/wildlife/arctic/mammals/svalbard-reindeer
https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/17/9/evaf160/8233719
https://npolar.no/en/species/svalbard-reindeer/#3

20th March 202618th February 2026

Cheer!

I thought I would write a blog to celebrate Cheer the reindeer.

She has a very distinctive white patchy face and often reindeer with white noses or faces stand out from the herd and get lots of attention. But in general I would say Cheer has avoided the spot-light for most of her life as naturally she is quite shy around people, preferring to keep her distance, and she’s not super dominant towards other reindeer either. On Hill Trips she’ll often be more in the distance and definitely not muscling her way in for the hand feed amongst the greediest of reindeer.

Cheer in September 2021 looking beautiful.

Cheer will turn 14 in the spring so definitely falls into the ‘old girl’ category and has been retired from breeding after her last calf was born in 2024. This means she now can spend the vast majority of her year out free ranging enjoying a peaceful life.

I don’t really remember encountering Cheer when I first came to be a herder for around 10 months in 2017 – 2018 (sorry, Cheer!). However, when I returned to reindeer herding in 2021 I got to know her much better. She had a calf in 2022 (Choc-ice), 2023 (Shannon) and 2024 (Chai) which meant Cheer spent a bit more time in our hill enclosure (as opposed to free ranging out in the mountains) during the calving season in the spring and again in the autumn so she was around more.

I’ve now got a real soft spot for her. She is greedy and does love feeding from the hand feed bag but only if there’s no pushy reindeer around and she’s confident that we herders don’t want to ‘do anything’ to her! Then her shy and suspicious nature kicks in.

So here’s just lots of photos of her, and her offspring, taken over the past few years. Enjoy.

2021

December 2021 – Cheer is back out free ranging and curious to know what’s in the feed bag!

2022

2023

2024

Cheer (and Chai just behind) in December 2024. Clearly not feeling shy today!

2025

Chai and Cheer in August 2025 – the pair have remained bonded and are often seen together whilst out free ranging.

I bumped into Chai and Cheer again in September 2025, free ranging together, but today Cheer was feeling suspicious of me! and perfectly happy to be left in peace.

Choc-ice stripping the velvet from his antlers in September 2025. He was one of our main breeding bulls in the rut the following month, so fingers crossed he’ll have passed on his and Cheer’s genes to the next generation of reindeer calves, greatly expanding Cheer’s dynasty.

Chai enjoying the snow in November 2025.

Ruth

13th March 20268th March 2026

Lichen – what is it and why does it taste good? If you’re a reindeer anyway…

“Lichen, any of about 15,000 species of plant-like organisms that consist of a symbiotic association of algae (usually green) or cyanobacteria and fungi (mostly ascomycetes and basidiomycetes)” (Britannica, 2025). Now that’s a lot of big words and what do they actually mean? What really is a ‘symbiotic association of algae’? And why is lichen so important for reindeer?

Lichen (AKA reindeer moss). Photo by Evelyn Simak

Let’s look at the bigger picture to start. Cast your minds to the vast open landscape that makes up a subarctic tundra ecosystem. Excitingly enough, we can talk about our very own Cairngorm mountains for this, as our reindeer live in the only ecosystem of its kind in the UK.

*The Cairngorm reindeer free roaming in the mountains.*

A subarctic tundra ecosystem falls south of the Arctic Circle line and includes treeless habitats of permafrost and generally short flora growing seasons due to harsh weather and low temperatures. It can include fragmented plant growth, like rocky mountainous peaks with scatterings of low growing vegetation including mosses, grasses, dwarfed shrubs, and lichens.

These harsh conditions mean that lichen do not have to compete for space or light with other forms of vegetation, enabling the lichen to grow in blankets across mountain plateaus. Due to their unique differences to other plant life, they are also able to grow on exposed rocks and as part of biological soil crusts. These soil crusts are found in cold and dry areas and make up the majority of all living ground cover in these almost uninhabitable places. The crusts are made of living material that sit on the top few millimetres of ground, meaning larger plants are unable to root and grow due to the ground conditions.

So that brings us back to our opening question, what is a symbiotic association of algae? What is lichen? From what we understand of lichen, it is a community of living organisms from both the fungi and the algae family. The fungi provide the water and minerals, as well as giving the lichen its structure, and the algae provides the food in the relationship, through photosynthesis. This happy partnership allows the lichen to grow and cope with harsh conditions that a normal single organism may not be able to thrive in.

Now let’s add the reindeer into the mix! Reindeer rely heavily on lichen, consuming so much that it can make up to 70% of their annual food intake. This is because those harsh landscapes we spoke about earlier have very little choice available for the reindeer, but they can always rely on the lichen to grow all year round. Reindeer even have specialised gut floras to be able to properly digest the carbohydrates lichen contains.

*Winter lichen for our free ranging reindeer.*

Maybe it’s not that it tastes good then, maybe it’s because they have little other choice?…

But if you asked our reindeer, they would tell you it’s the best thing on the menu!

Mocha with a bit of lichen hanging from her bottom lip!

Daisy

Resources to learn more:

https://www.britannica.com/science/reindeer-lichen https://www.britannica.com/science/biological-soil-crust https://britishlichensociety.org.uk/learning/what-is-a-lichen

6th March 20269th February 2026

A Shopful of Delights

Our beautiful new shop – packed-full of lots of wonderful reindeer related goodies.

Since moving into our shiny new Centre, we’ve had a brand new shop space to play with. It may look a little different to our very rustic, wood clad shop of old, but we’ve kept a few nods to the old style.

Our rule-of-thumb with a pretty small space is that any product we sell has to feature reindeer (with the odd bending of the rule…) and we try to find as many unique/local products as possible.

Herder Fiona crafts with naturally cast antler to make beautiful jewellery, and there is often bespoke artwork by herders Kate, Ruth and Sheena .

Some of Fiona’s jewellery, with sections of real antler, along with a few of Kate’s needle-felted reindeer.

I’ve been particularly excited to find space to stock a much bigger range of books, the best antidote to too much screen time!

Our reindeer library – something for everyone – children and adults.

Look at this beautiful centrepiece, created from one of Sherlock’s antlers and an old whisky barrel!

One of Sherlock’s antlers is proudly displayed in the centre of the shop – adorned with lots of wonderful items.

If you aren’t planning a visit soon, you will find most of our products online on our shop at https://store.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/ We aren’t able to list more unique products like Ruth’s lino prints and Sheena’s art, so if there is something that you’d like that’s not on there then do drop us an email and we can show you what is currently available and send through a payment link.

If you live in the EU, unfortunately we can’t post to you due to legislation, but elsewhere in the world we can create a custom order if you email to let us know what you’d like and your address.

Andi

27th February 202627th February 2026

Photo Blog: February 2026

February is the month that we ease ourselves back into Hill Trips again after being closed for a month. From mid-January to mid-February, we are trying to catch up with general maintenance and into February prepare for being open to the public again. The start of the month consisted of feeding reindeer, ensuring we are prepared for opening and we also spared some time to visit one of the Lynx reintroductions drop in’s that have been happening in the area.

The 7^th of February was our first day open to the public. It is always a bit of a daunting thought, and you’re left hoping that you remember how to talk about reindeer and that you have hopefully remembered everything that needs done first thing in the morning. But these anxious thoughts were soon squashed by our first Hill Trip of the season, the weather was good and how to be a public facing reindeer herder came flooding back!

The weather at this time of the year can be challenging and trying to take a picture that encompasses how brutal the weather is on a hill trip is hard. Daisy and I did a Hill Trip on the 11^th, and the conditions were rather wintery. The met office report for the day told us that the max wind gust at Base Station was to be 26 MPH, our Hill Trip that day was lower than Base Station and the wind was enough to knock you off balance, so I feel it may have been a little stronger than that! I do love the variation that we get in weather as it makes the good weather days feel special.

4th of February: Left to Right- Suebi, Orinocco, Bolero, Ceilidh and Glacée on a very blustery trip out to feed the herd before we begin Hill Trips again.

5th of February: Ruth and Lotti enjoying biscuits whilst completing their Lynx questionaires.

7th of February: Myself, Kate and Maisy with Ryvita after the first Hill Trip of the new season.

8th of February: Trilby leading the herd in for our morning Hill Trip with Disco on her left, Tango and then Pip.

11th of February: On the walk out to the reindeer myself and Cameron noticed some unusual prints in the snow… Possibly Badger prints?

11th of February: Cameron teaching his merry band of calves bad habits

11th of February: Above is Beautiful Solero. This was the first day of good weather we had seen in a while, so plenty of pictures were taken!

15th of February: Another mission to collect the reindeer before our 11 am Hill Trip. In the fore ground (left-right) we have Dante, Disco and Bolero.

18th of February: The first day of the season where we had to cancel the Hill Trip due to the weather. Sanna, Fraoch and myself agree that it was the best call!

19th of February: Daisy clinging on for her life on a very windy walk out to collect the reindeer in the morning.

22nd of February: Vienna, often found snooping around us herders looking for extra food.

25th of February: Polka leading the herd in before our Hill Trip.

Amy

20th February 202616th February 2026

Photo Blog: Reindeer in the snow

Breaking trail and the herd following in my footsteps. Holy Moley right behind me.

Breaking trail and the herd following in my footsteps.

Colder temperatures bringing them lower towards the tree line.

Counting reindeer as they walk towards me.

Feeding free rangers during the first snowfall.

Fuzzy noses keeping them warm while they snuffle into the snow for low growing vegetation and feed from us herders.

Winnie demonstrating how their thick coats allow the snow to settle, so well insulated it doesn’t melt.

Daisy

13th February 202620th January 2026

The Story of Chickpea

Chickpea is a beautiful lass with a distinctive white nose. She was born in 2020 to mum Angua and dad Spartan. Her first couple of years were quite tough, with illness and not one but two periods of time where she went missing from the herd whilst she was out free ranging in the hills. Thankfully she has truly come into her own and is now a strong healthy lass, in excellent condition. She had her first surviving calf in 2025, a handsome male we named Jig, so a true happy ending after the rather wobbly ‘teenage’ years.

Chickpea’s full brother Zoom (who has very similar markings) also has a rather interesting tale which Andi wrote about in this blog. Well worth a read, another lovely story!

Chickpea as a new-born calf in May 2020.

I didn’t meet Chickpea until summer 2021, when I returned to reindeer herding, so I missed the first year of her life but she certainly looked like a gorgeous calf. The first time I remember meeting Chickpea was in summer 2021 whilst I was out on a free range mission. I found a lovely group of reindeer which included Chickpea and her mum Angua, who both looked very relaxed and in good health.

Mother and daughter, Angua and Chickpea, free ranging together in summer 2021.

At the end of the summer/early autumn we start seeing the free ranging reindeer more on lower slopes of the hills as the higher plateau gets colder, the grazing deteriorates, and the tasty mushrooms start appearing at lower altitudes. By around mid-September 2021 we’d managed to catch up with all of the free rangers, except for one, Chickpea! What had happened to her? This occasionally does happen, a reindeer goes missing and after a while we have to very sadly conclude that they must’ve died whilst out free ranging, perhaps succumbing to an illness. But we didn’t give up hope for Chickpea! On the 29th of September a hillwalker reported a small single reindeer on the mountain plateau. With all other reindeer accounted for this had to be Chickpea. The rest of the free ranging herd were in a good area not too far away from the hill enclosure, so we just had to hope Chickpea was able to navigate her way to them.

Just over a week passed and there were no more reports of her. As normal at that time of year, we drive up to Cairngorm Base Station and spy the hills to see if we can see any free ranging reindeer. On the 9th of October, Sheena and I were up on the hill early looking for reindeer and who did we bump into? Chickpea! Hooray! Along with another yearling female called Sunflower. Her new winter coat looked a bit tatty, and we think she must’ve had an illness in the late summer, but otherwise she appeared just fine.

Chickpea found on the side of the road looking a bit scruffy but fine – on the 9th of October 2021. The first time we’d seen her in a long while.

Sheena leading Chickpea and Sunflower into the enclosure on the 9th of October after being AWOL.

8th of January 2022 – Chickpea looking for more feed on a Hill Trip.

Chickpea and her mum back out on the free range in January 2022.

Chickpea then spent the first part of 2022 out free ranging in the hills. As a young female, she didn’t need to come into the hill enclosure for calving, so she remained out free ranging with the rest of her cohort and all the other non-breeding females. Her mum Angua was brought in for calving and gave us a gorgeous calf, we later called Zoom!

We caught up with Chickpea as normal in the beginning of the summer and Andi found her in a nice big herd of cows and calves in mid-July 2022 looking healthy and in good condition. But as autumn rolled around and once again, we start bringing reindeer in off the free range, Chickpea, Angua and her calf Zoom were the only reindeer not to be accounted for. You’ll read the full story of Zoom’s return in Andi’s blog (link above) but once he was brought back into the enclosure the only reindeer left unaccounted for was Chickpea… again!

We got several reports from hillwalkers of a single reindeer and we even received a couple of emails with photos of her so we knew she was out there somewhere, but frustratingly we were unable to catch up with her ourselves. There are no fences on the free range so the area they can roam is vast and the sightings of her were all from the furthest part of their range.

Then on one otherwise completley normal morning on the 21st of March 2023, Hen and Lisette went out to find and move the herd in time for the Hill Trip. And who was there?! Chickpea! She looked very scruffy and was a little on the lean side but was otherwise in good spirits and keen to get into the handfeed bag!

It is normal for us to go weeks or months without seeing a particular free ranging reindeer over the summer. However, Chickpea ended up evading us for around eight months! Thankfully, this is very unusual! I certainly do not know of another reindeer who has gone AWOL for anywhere near that long whilst I’ve been working here.

Chickpea shortly after her reappearance in March 2023. Everyone was so happy to see that face!

Thankfully Chickpea has not made us all this anxious again! In fact, she’s absolutely thrived and you certainly couldn’t tell by looking at her she has had a couple of rather big solo ‘adventures’. She remained with the herd throughout March and April 2023 and we gave her some extra calorific food to give her a wee boost. She then continued to free range all spring and summer, but we saw her much more frequently!

Chickpea in the middle on the free range in July 2023 – looking scruffy due to the moult but in great condition. She’s obviously recovered and found lots of good grazing.

Chickpea in January 2024 – such a difference from the photo from March 2023 (above).

Chickpea free ranging in the hills in January 2025. What a bonnie lass!

In May 2025 Chickpea gave birth to a gorgeous male calf, also with a white nose. The pair went out to free range for the summer, we caught up with them several times, and they clearly had a good season as they both came back into the enclosure in the autumn in great condition. We named Chickpea’s calf Jig, and he’s one of the biggest calves of the year. Chickpea is going from strength to strength and hopefully will never make us worry so much again!

In May 2025 Chickpea gave birth to this lovely wee fella who we later named Jig.

Chickpea and Jig spent summer 2025 out free ranging in the hills. This time we caught up with her at a perfectly normal time of year – around mid-September – and were able to bring them both back into the hill enclosure.

Chickpea in October 2025 with a very characteristic look on her face – any more food for me?!

Jig is a lovely young lad and naturally tame. This is him in November 2025.

Ruth

6th February 202615th January 2026

Hen’s Christmas wall of shame – 2025

I thought I might start an annual blog of photos I’ve taken over the winter season, of things that are supposed to be reindeer – and aren’t. Although it turns out that being as I didn’t really go anywhere this winter, I didn’t take that many photos. Will try harder next year…

First up, shortbread. The commonest offender at Christmas I reckon, every shop has Christmassy tins of red deer, blatantly assuming they are reindeer. Or maybe just assuming that ‘deer are deer’ and they’re all the same… (arggh).

Shame on you, Tesco.

Ah, wrapping paper. Also a common offender. I’m not even sure what this (below) is supposed to be. It ain’t no reindeer, that’s for sure…

Another image I saw online that I thought warranted a mention, despite not being my own photo, was a new Banksy on a wall in Birmingham. The ‘reindeer’ (prancing Christmas affairs) are pulling a sleigh represented by a bench that is often used by homeless people; in the Guardian’s words: A Christmas cracker with a bang of reality. I like Banksy’s artwork, but ya know, would have been better if the mural showed actual reindeer…

Whilst I mostly failed miserably at remembering to take photos of the Christmas monstrosities masquerading as reindeer (quite possibly because I usually take a wide berth around the Christmas aisles in most shops), my winner this year (below) came looking for me at the Reindeer Centre, arriving in a box of stationary I’d ordered from Viking.

Eventually, having stared for too long at the vaguely fallow deer-esque antlers, still in velvet, on a head that isn’t a fallow, I realised it’s an AI picture entirely (as opposed to some bubble wrap and a ribbon being photoshopped onto an actual photo). God help us. So I’m naming and shaming you, Viking Office Supplies!

I’ll be back in a year with the Christmas 2026 edition of this blog…

Hen