Photo Blog: August 2024

August has been a busy and fun month. The first half of the month was very busy with visitors and sold out Hill Trips. Without the Paddocks and Exhibition this year it feels like the Hill Trips have been even busier than usual. Sometimes we even put a bonus additional Hill Trip on so as not to disappoint too many folk! The reindeer were not complaining about another opportunity to hand-feed!

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 this month…

1st of August: Sheena leading down Mivvi with Cairngorm mountain in the background.
2nd of August: Frost coming over to say hello!
5th of August: Kernel and Jelly, both 4 years old, leading the herd on a very dreich Hill Trip.
5th of August: Mivvi looking so smart in his short, dark summer coat.
6th of August: Harness training in the sun!
7th of August: Sherlock looking MEGA!
7th of August: The most identifiable nose on the hill?? Dr Seuss saying hello!
8th of August; Amy being mobbed by a bunch of boys (and girl Alba is bottom left) wanting their breakfast!
9th of August: A free ranging mission with Cameron. Moving a group of VERY old girls, Ibex, Sambar, Gazelle, Sika and Pavlova with a collective age of 79!
12th of August: Handsome Akubra.
13th of August: Haricot on a beautiful breezy morning.
14th of August: Wafer coming over to say hi! He looks great this year, with very pretty antlers.
14th of August: Winnie and Alba looking super! Both were hand-reared last year.
15th of August: A late afternoon excursion from the office to find and move some free ranging reindeer. This is the lovely Emmental who was certainly not shy!
16th of August: Cows and calves are back in the enclosure! This is Christie, her male calf, and Solero in the middle.
16th of August: Brie’s calf is exceptionally cute! But I could say that about all of them…
19th of August: Marple and her calf behind.
20th of August: Jenga spending a short while in the enclosure for a wee health check after a summer out free ranging.
20th of August: Sunflower and calf!
24th of August: Ryvita aged 15 and looking fantastic!!
24th of August (a): Vienna and calf being retrieved from the free range. I enjoyed a lovely evening walk with them back to the hill enclosure.
24th of August (b): Vienna and calf home! Back in the enclosure after a summer out in the hills.

Ruth

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!
13th of July: Elbe and herder Hannah.
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

Photo Blog: June 2024

Scruffy reindeer month! Not their most photogenic season but a wonderful time of year nonetheless. The cows and calves left the enclosure to free range in the mountains and the males in our enclosure are looking super with lovely velvet antlers.

3rd of June: Putting out the first batch of cows and calves of 2024.
4th of June: The remaining cows and calves in the enclosure are now old enough to mingle with visitors on our Hill Trips.
6th of June: The two palest calves of 2024.
7th of June: This lad is already very friendly and bold!
10th of June: Yangtze saying hello!
13th of June: Isla is back for the summer, hoorah! Here she is spoiling Sherlock! Just for reference Isla is 6ft so Sherlock’s antlers really are that tall!
13th of June: The lovely Zoom.
16th of June: Gorgeous Winnie on a very soggy day.
17th of June: The first harness training session of 2024.
17th of June: Druid LOVES feeding out of a white bag but the exact same food offered in a hand , no thank you!
18th of June: Ärta looking handsome!
19th of June: A trip out to see the free rangers. Found a wonderful bunch all looking very happy and healthy!
21st of June: Busby posing beautifully on a rock!
23rd of June: Lotti and Amy feeding the herd their breakfast.
26th of June: Cameron and the waiting herd.
27th of June: Lupin!

Ruth

Photo Blog: May 2024

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.

Ruth

Volunteer Blog: From the rutting season to the calving season

Sherlock during the rut in 2023.

I first visited the Cairngorm reindeer herd in August 2000 and since then have visited on many occasions with my husband and our three daughters.

Over the years we have made badges and paper antlers, hunted for elves, taken countless photos of our daughters sitting on the sleigh outside the shop, handfed the reindeer, and have never tired of the beautiful walk up to the hill enclosure.

Our last family trip was on Valentine’s Day in 2022 when we headed out in the pouring rain on the 11am Hill Trip to visit the free ranging herd high up on the mountain. It was following that trip that I heard about the chance to apply to become a volunteer and spend a week helping out at Reindeer House and decided to apply.

Jayne’s husband and daughter smiling despite the rain thanks to Gloriana. Hard to believe this soggy experience made Jayne wish to volunteer with us!

In October 2023 I packed my tent and drove up from Lancashire to spend the week at Glenmore. I was rather apprehensive turning up at 8am on Monday morning with a rucksack full of waterproofs and sandwiches but I needn’t have worried. I was immediately greeted by a room full of very friendly reindeer herders, several dogs and a handful of puppies!

My volunteer week was action packed. In the morning I helped with handling the reindeer down at the Visitor Centre, feeding them, cleaning up and getting everything ready for visitors to come in at 10am.

During October there is just one Hill Trip a day. I would go up onto the hill, carrying a bag of food and talking to visitors about what I was doing. Each day I would heat up some milk and carry it up the hill in a flask to feed two calves named Winnie and Alba who had been successfully hand reared and were now on the hill with the rest of the herd. Whilst I keep insisting that I don’t have a favourite reindeer I do have a soft spot for Alba!

Winnie and Alba, hard not to develop soft spots for these two girls!

October is the rutting season which was quite eventful! The hill enclosure was being used to manage the annual breeding as well as for daily Hill Trips so there was plenty to do. Two male reindeer had been selected for breeding. Sherlock was out on Silver Mount with some of the females whilst Jelly Bean was in another part of the enclosure with some of the other females. Daily checks were made of all the reindeer and extra food provided. It was quite an experience to see these normally very docile males displaying anything but docile behaviour and to see their interactions with the females as they came into season. I was certainly happy to stay behind the fence!

Sherlock out on Silver Mount with Bordeaux, one of his selected cows.

Volunteering in October also meant that I got the opportunity to be involved in the first week of the Christmas sleigh training. I’ll never forget being pulled up the hill from Glenmore Visitor Centre in a Sleigh!

Jayne at the front of the sleigh in hi-vis, on crowd control duty.

I learnt so much that week and thoroughly enjoyed it so it was no surprise to my family when I asked if they would mind if I abandoned them once again this year to spend another week volunteering.

My return to Glenmore was sooner than I imagined and I was back again at the start of May 2024 – approximately 220 days since my last visit – which quite coincidentally happened to be about the same period of time as the average gestation period for a reindeer!

How lucky was I – having experienced the madness of the rutting season I was now in the thick of the calving season.

One of our gorgeous calves.

Three calves had already been born when I arrived on a wet bank holiday weekend and over the course of the week that I was there another 12 were born on the hill.

During my second stint as a volunteer there was no Paddocks and Exhibition to attend to as it has been knocked down over the winter and is in the process of being rebuilt. There was plenty to do though with two Hill Trips a day, plus an early morning walk to find reindeer, check on them, locate newly born reindeer and help with a whole host of other daily jobs to be done.

New mum and calf.

Watching how quickly the calves developed and became so sure footed in such a short space of time was amazing and as the new mums relaxed into motherhood it was a joy to just sit and watch them interact. It’s hard to imagine that in just a few weeks the mums and calves will be out free ranging across the Cairngorm mountains.

During the time I have spent with everyone who works with the Cairngorm Reindeer I have learned so much about these beautiful animals. I have thoroughly enjoyed helping to take visitors up onto the hill, telling them about the reindeer and talking to them about all sorts of things!

Sherlock looking a bit different from Jayne’s last visit.
Zambezi and Shannon now yearlings in May 2024, in the previous October these were some of the calves that were being trained to walk behind the sleigh.

I feel so privileged to have had this opportunity and am rather hoping that I will be allowed back again next year ….

Jayne

Photo Blog: April 2024

April has flown by. The first half of the month busy with the Easter holidays. We’ve had some wonderful Hill Trips both out on the free range and also in our hill enclosure here on Cairngorm. Although not much spring weather it has to be said.

The second half of the month was busy with moving reindeer around getting them in the right places for the fast-approaching calving season. Most pregnant females have been brought into our hill enclosure now and the “single ladies” (the old girls, young girls, or ones having a year off motherhood) were put back out to free range. We’ve also brought the first males back into the enclosure after their winter free ranging at our second site. Lovely to see some of the boys back.

The office has also been busy as always – my jobs have included newsletter preparation, working on adoption packs, preparing the 2025 reindeer calendar (wahoo – it’s just gone to print), trying to up our social media game, sorting emails, drinking tea…

It’s been a fun month watching antlers casting and growing, and bellies widen on our pregnant females. Bring on the first calf of 2024!

2nd of April: Moving the herd with Lisette at the back doing a wonderful job as ‘sheep dog’!
3rd of April: Danube with her tongue out!
5th of April: Juniper and Sundae in a blizzard!
6th of April: Fern and Okapi soon to be 17 and 16 years old respectively are the first over at the feed bag!
8th of April: Sunshine!! A rare sight this month. Moving the herd into position for our Hill Trip.
15th of April: Dr Seuss is back in the enclosure after a winter free ranging in the hills. He’s clearly feeling snoozy after the Hill Trip. He takes his role as chief hand-feeder incredibly seriously!
17th of April: Sunny (our hand-reared calf from 2022) was back in the hill enclosure for a short while and followed me back to the gate just like he used to as a young calf!
16th of April: These 11-month-old calves get to feed out of the bag for another month before they turn into “yearlings”. Orinoco is the cutie closest to camera.
18th of April: Mushy, Spy, Dante, Ladybird, Sambar and Sunny.
22nd of April: Sherlock looking handsome with those big velvet antlers.
23rd of April: A lovely morning with Tilly on the hill.
24th of April: I headed over to the farm to help Tilly with a farm tour. Lovely to see some of the boys I haven’t seen much of this winter, like Druid here!
24th of April: The lovely Hemp!

Ruth

The whole herd in one day

It’s not often we see all of our reindeer in one day but on this occasion in February myself and Lotti between our two sites here on Cairngorm and Glenlivet we saw all of the reindeer.

It started with a trip to our enclosure. Over the February half term we have decided that due to how busy the area is and the disturbance form people and dogs for our reindeer free ranging that for the two weeks of half term that we would take a small herd into our enclosure to guarantee Hill Trips, rather than take a group of visitors a 40 minute walk out into the mountains only for the reindeer to have been chased away by hikers with dogs. We figured our female reindeer, who predominantly free range most of the year, it would be a small price for them to pay for two weeks. So Lotti and I headed up first thing for their morning feed and check. While we were up there the free ranging herd of cows and calves had also made their way in for an easy feed so that was all the reindeer on Cairngorm checked by 9.30am… We must be good herders 😉

Pavlova here on Cairngorm.

Once we came off the hill we had to do some vehicle swapping with our farm over at Glenlivet so Lotti and I headed over there to do just that. When we arrived they were busy splitting some red deer who were being relocated so Tilly suggested that we headed up onto the hill with a few bags of feed to see if we could find the reindeer on their winter grazing. Like Cairngorm, the reindeer on our Glenlivet site range the mountains which has particular good lichen heath, lichen being a reindeers favourite food!

Firstly, we wrapped up warm. One difference between Glenlivet and Cairngorm is we can access the hill by quad bike on Glenlivet whereas everything is done on foot here on Cairngorm. When walking we keep warm but when we’re on a quad bike it gets pretty chilly. So the two of us looked like Michelin Men… or Women! We arrived at the top of the track and immediately greeted by 20-30 reindeer. We gave the others a call the best we could in the high winds then I left Lotti to give the calves some preferential feeding while I went on a bit further on the quad to see if I could locate some more.

The herd out free roaming on our 2nd site.
Cottage and Silk.
Flax.
Jenga.
Vienna.

I gave a good call and from various different directions came a few reindeer here and a few reindeer there eventually equating to them all. I was most delighted to see Sunny of course. He was the hand reared male reindeer from 2022 and I definitely have a soft spot for him. He still comes over when I shout ‘calf, calf’! Winnie and Alba our two hand reared female calves form 2023 were delighted to see us… I say us, they were delighted to see the food!

Adzuki and Sherlock.

So all in all, Lotti and I saw the whole herd that day which does happen now and again but it is rare.

Fiona

Sherlock’s Antlers

Sherlock in September 2022.

Despite spending the last 40+ years devoting my life to the Cairngorm Reindeer I am still fascinated by the annual cycle of reindeer growing their new velvet antlers, then stripping the velvet to reveal hard bony antlers and finally casting their antlers and growing a new set next year.

It is an amazing process, hugely demanding on their resources, but very beneficial to the individual whether they are males competing for females in the rut or females and young males competing for food in the winter.

The older mature males grow the most impressive antlers and for them the process of growing their new velvet antlers begins before the end of the winter and continues until they strip the velvet from the antlers around the middle of August, in preparation for the rutting season. The bigger the antlers the more likely they are to ‘win’ a fight and so claim a harem of females, so big antlers are important.

Sherlock – 8th of April 2023.
Sherlock – 9th of May 2023.
Sherlock – 6th of June 2023.

One of our main breeding bulls Sherlock showed all the signs of growing a pretty big set of antlers last year and by the autumn he didn’t disappoint us. Luckily for us he is a real gentleman among reindeer and although he sported these great weapons on his head, he was never aggressive towards us and we could still safely go in beside him and his breeding females on a daily basis to feed and check them all.

Sherlock – 29th of August 2023 – stripping the velvet.
Sherlock in the rut with Bordeaux in front of him on the 2nd of October 2023.

But their glory doesn’t last long and having spent 5 ½ months growing their antlers the breeding males are the first to cast their antlers at the end of the rut and before the winter sets in. So only about 10-12 weeks of glory with big hard antlers to fight with!

Spartan, who is a couple of years older than Sherlock was first to cast his antlers in the middle of November so I knew it wouldn’t be long before Sherlock was antlerless too. Two weeks later and off came one of Sherlock’s antlers making him very lopsided! Then a couple more days and the other one had fallen.

So now we are in 2024 and Sherlock, who was so dominant in the autumn, has been at the bottom of the pecking order over the winter.

Sherlock with no antlers in January 2024.
Sherlock just beginning to grow his antlers on the 28th February 2024.
Sherlock on the left on the with his lovely velvet antlers growing well, still free roaming in the hills – 30th of March 2024.
It’s in the genes! Sherlock’s mum, Caddis, grew very large antlers for a female.

Tilly

Characters

Visitors often ask how on earth we tell apart the 150-strong herd of reindeer. Whilst there is variation in colour, markings and antler shape, one of the biggest distinguishing features is actually character. Just like people, reindeer come in every shade of cheeky, shy, friendly, stand-offish, bolshy, greedy, intelligent, daft… I thought I might mention a few stand out character types, past and present!

Overexcited Labrador

Aztec leading the herd – look at that expectant face

Step up, Aztec! Always the first to be involved, always wanting to “help”, very friendly, lovable, and not a manner to be seen if there is a mere sniff of food… Fun, but a bit of a liability.

Also falling into this category: Kipling, Bumble, Eco

The Thinker

Olmec paying careful consideration to all potential outcomes

Reserved and steady, not always the easiest to catch but utterly dependable when out on tour. Olmec, I’m looking at you.

Also applies to: Dragonfly

TV Diva

HM with her adoring fan Lotti

Introducing the one and only Holy Moley… who knows full well that she basically had her own TV documentary and hence feels that every visitor is there to see her and her alone.

Also: Dr Seuss appears to feel that his minor starring role in the same show entitles him to extra food portions every single day too.

Sweet as Pie, Wouldn’t Hurt a Fly

Sweet Diamond, with Hopper in the background

Beautiful light-coloured Diamond has to be one of the gentlest souls in the herd. She walks with a slight limp after an injury back in her younger days, which of course means we all (needlessly) slip her extra bits of feed. 

Also: Amber, Esme, Sunflower

Loyal and True

Okapi in her usual position – right in the footsteps of the herder

Certain reindeer can always be relied upon when we’re moving the free-range herd – they’ll be near the front, they willingly have a headcollar put on, they trustingly plod behind you whilst the rest of the herd debate whether your bribe is worth coming for. Okapi, you’re the star here.

Also: Olympic

The Boy Band Pin-Up

Sherlock, admired by all!

Sherlock has to be one of the most impressive looking reindeer in the herd today, and he also knows how to work it. Some reindeer naturally prick their ears for a photo, and seem to offer their best side!

Also: Elvis, of whom there was never a bad photo taken!

Grumpy Old Men (and Women)

That look in Pony’s eye which was the precursor to antlers being aimed at you! We were always grateful when she cast her antlers each year, though she would then resort to using her front feet!

Bond may only be 5 years old, but he definitely ticks every box for “grouchy” – you only need to look at him and he rolls his eyes at the thought that you might try to interact with him. Likewise, walking too near Lace or Turtle is likely to extract a swing of the antlers and a snap of the mouth as a warning.  Turtle is Pony’s daughter, who was perhaps the grumpiest reindeer we’ve ever had in the herd, so it’s definitely inherited!

Also: Addja once implanted his antlers into my leg when in a bad mood, only to cast one, which definitely didn’t make him any more cheery (though it did make me chuckle at the instant karma).

Big Friendly Giant

Scrabble, our very own BFG!

One of the tallest, heftiest reindeer in the herd, Scrabble was a bit of a liability in his youth as he was just so keen to meet everyone, and somewhat unaware of his sheer size. It almost seemed that his bum was so far away from his brain that he couldn’t keep track of the children he was wiping out as he turned around… Now he’s an old fella so a bit steadier, but just as friendly and enormous!

Also: Comet

Don’t Mess With…

Brie acting like butter wouldn’t melt… until she disagrees with the program

Brie may look little and cute, but her first instinct if she doesn’t like something is to beat it/them with her antlers, and whilst she both she and her antlers may be small, she is ANGRY. As Mel once found out when leading Brie, and Brie decided she did NOT want to be there…

Also: Spy. If Spy has calved, it usually takes about four herders, all hiding behind gates/fences to move her where we want her to be.

Andi

Well hello boys!

In the autumn, we move all of our entire males (apart from the 2 or 3 lucky chosen breeding bulls) over to our hill farm, away from the females and out of trouble for the duration of the breeding season. With no hint of love on the air, this keeps them calmer and easier to manage, though they still enjoy play-fighting. By December the rut is over and our breeding bulls have also joined them, so there is a slight vibe of an all-boys hangout. As Tilly is caring for these fellas every day, and she is less up on her social media, I thought I’d take the opportunity to grab some photos for you all this week when I was over at the hill farm.

Boys hanging out chilling in the sunshine on the hill
Tub heading over to see what’s up
Spartan is a picture of relaxation! Pure white yearling 99, and Cornetto are closest to camera.
Jester and Scoop resting up for winter
Yearling males 99, Kulfi, Cornetto and Zoom
The bulls spend a lot of time practicing their tussling skills – here’s a friendly bout between 99 and Zoom
2-year-old Akubra looks a bit sleepy for tussling just now!
2 year old Cowboy (centre) is certainly in charge of yearlings Calippo (left) and Iskrem (right)
Too close Calippo!
Pure white 99
The more mature bulls have already cast their antlers. Spartan and Sherlock are now getting a rest from carrying all that weight on their heads!
Look at that big fuzzy nose! Mr Morse.
Mr Whippy is the biggest of the yearlings
Like some of the other young bulls, Zap has broken parts of his antlers. He’ll grow back a full set next year after casting this set, a completely natural process.
Sunny, who we hand-reared last year. He’s grown into a very handsome fella.
Big Morse and young Kulfi enjoying the winter sun.

Andi

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