July has been a good month with the reindeer finally starting to look good in their short sleek coats. We’ve some very hot days, but the reindeer have very faired well. They felt the heat on occasions but thankfully have ways off cooling down, I actually think they dealt with it better than me! Check out this old blog to see how the reindeer cope in higher temperatures.
We’ve been busy with three Hill Trips every weekday, and two on weekends. The Paddocks has also been popular and behind-the-scenes there are exciting things going on in the Exhibition. We still don’t have an opening date, but things have progressed well in the last couple of weeks. Exciting! Here’s some pics of some of our lovely male reindeer taken over the past month…
1st of July: Cicero sporting a brilliant ‘wig’!2nd of July: Hemp, Earl Grey and Yukon posing beautifully.2nd of July: Magnum, Amur and Espresso having a lie-down after a Hill Trip. 8th of July: The herd heading for breakfast.9th of July: It’s so hard to take photos at this time of the year as the boys are so busy grazing with their heads down! Spartan and Kulfi are the two boys with their heads up, and white noses.10th of July: Kernel’s lovely nose.10th of July: A morning training session with Caz and Kate. 11th of July: The boys on a hot day, all standing with their feet in a bog to help them cool off. Cappuccino coming over to say hello.12th of July: No reindeer pics today, but I did take one at the river where Kate and I went for a wee paddle to cool off after a hot Hill Trip!14th of July: Earl Grey looking cute. The colour difference between his winter and summer coat is really noticeable. 15th of July: Tub lunging for a feed bag.18th of July: Zoom leading the herd in for their breakfast. 19th of July: Cuppa coming in for his close up. He’s now looking great in his short sleek summer coat. 20th of July: Another morning training some of our wonderful future ‘Christmas reindeer’.22nd of July: Too close Scoop!23rd of July: Tiree and Fraoch helping with the morning duties. 24th of July: Kulfi’s lovely white face.
The start of May was a whirlwind! The first calf of the year was born on the 25th of April, then the cows left us in suspense for a whole week until the 2nd of May until the next one came along. It was then a flurry of calves being born all over the place – we had 19 within one week! Calving then slowed down and things became a bit calmer with the last one found on the 28th. In general we’ve had a very successful month and the vast majority of the calves and their mums are already out free roaming in the hills – I can’t wait to head out to see them over the summer.
On top of this we’ve also had two Hill Trips a day and all the usual business in the office. So I’ll leave it there and just let you enjoy the cute pictures…
As 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.
1st of May: Brew bored of me talking on a Hill Trip and finding a comfy seat on my rucksack! I’m sure a lot of visitors would empathise with her – I do tend to go on a bit.1st of May: Sisters Zambezi and Juniper hanging out together.6th of May: A gorgeous newborn male calf.6th of May: Bordeaux and Turtle wondering what I’m up to on another beautiful day. I’m starting to forget what rain feels like!7th of May: Amazon looking beautiful whilst out free ranging in the hills!7th of May: Druid is a shy boy and doesn’t handfeed but he loves eating from the white bag at the end of the visit, as you can tell from the crumbs on his nose!9th of May: Choc-ice is a bold and rather cheeky fella! 12th of May: This gorgeous wee one is just over a week old and already very settled around us, so long as mum isn’t too far away!12th of May: A beutiful female calf.12th of May: Cameron walking a calf into the ‘nursery’ area of our enclosure, the mum is just ahead, off camera and this wee one is less than 12 hours old.13th of May: Andi feeding the main herd in the enclosure. Look at the size of Sherlock’s antlers next to everyone else! Busby closest to camera. 13th of May: A beautiful calf chilling out in a bog!14th of May: Another gorgeous calf!14th of May: Three ‘normal coloured’ calves in the wrong place on the other side of a fence to their (unconcerned) mums! Who do you belong to?! 14th of May: Another calf cooling down in a bog. Look at that row of bottom teeth! 17th of May: Spartan tapping his antlers encouraging their growth.18th of May: The first batch of calves getting walked out! Here’s Cameron walking with a mother and her calf following on behind. 18th of May: Free ranging mother and calf! A beautiful evening waving them off! 18th of May: Another calf now free ranging in the hills for the summer. Good luck wee one!19th of May: Kuksa yawning after a Hill Trip. Tiring work being this cute!21st of May: A really funky coloured calf! What a cutie.23rd of May: One year old Chai having a suckle from mum Cheer. Usually the calves stop suckling long before this but Cheer and Chai remain closely bonded.27th of May: How Jimmy spent the majority of my Hill Trip – at my side giving me the puppy dog eyes!28th of May: Another reindeer calf just for good measure!28th of May: Elbe, the twin brother to his more famous sister Alba, looking great.29th of May: Some of our gorgeous boys – Jester, Kulfi, Busby, Mivvi and Olmec.
March has been a great month for us here at the Centre. We’ve become so used to working in the new Centre it’s hard to imagine life working from Reindeer House! March is always a relatively quiet month for visitors so it’s meant an excellent ratio of reindeer to people on our daily Hill Trips. Things will start getting busier in April with the school holidays, and reindeer will be back in our Paddocks from Saturday 29th of March. The Paddocks will be a work in progress for some time as we continue to landscape, but at least the reindeer will be back on display for folks to see! Have a read here for up to date info about what’s on offer in the Paddocks: https://www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/paddocks/.
Here’s lots of lovely photos of some of our gorgeous reindeer taken throughout the month!
3rd of March: Chai is such a cutie, and she knows it!3rd of March: Two girls with big antlers! Mangetout (born 2020) has the biggest set of antlers compared to the females in her year group and Pukka (born 2024) has the biggest out of hers, including the boys!4th of March: Fiona, Lotti and I walked three cows and their calves up the hill to join the free ranging herd we have here on Cairngorm. Previously they’d been free ranging at our second winter site. Feta and Earl Grey, Beanie and Coffee, and Christie and Espresso. 5th of March: We’re so proud of these two! Alba at the front and Winnie behind. Both hand-reared in 2023 and now proper free-roaming reindeer! Go girls.12th of February: Snow! And Cuppa’s awesome eyebrows.12th of March: The top of Ryvita’s head. She’s usually the first cow to start growing her antlers. 13th of March: Winter has returned. Sundae looking particularly beautiful!13th of March: Zambezi and the herd on their way in for breakfast. 13th of March: Winnie and Cameron. 14th of March: Torch making sure Cappuccino is looking good for our visitors. 17th of March: Shannon on St. Patrick’s Day. Shannon was named by herder Amy after the river in Ireland. 17th of March: Ryvita up to her usual tricks! She’s an old girl so I may have allowed this for longer than I would have if it was somebody younger! 18th of March: Trilby leading the herd on a beautiful day. 19th of March: Another old girl enjoying our backpacks – this is Oatcake. 21st of March: Amy and I went over to our second site to help Tilly which was very fun! We got to see all the male reindeer including this greedy chap – Aztec!21st of March: Spartan looking very handsome and enjoying free ranging. He’s just beginning to grow a new set of antlers. 22nd of March: Peanut is a beautiful reindeer. She’ll turn 5 in the spring and is relatively shy in nature but very sweet!22nd of March: Zambezi wondering if I’ve got any food!23rd of March: Sunflower and Fika being very sweet!25th of March: Christie cast her anlters a couple of weeks ago but still looks gorgeous. Her new antlers will begin to grow before too long.27th of March: 10 month old Coffee leading the herd this morning. He’s a very confident chap!
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.
Over the years I’ve established myself as ‘chief of antler sales’ here at the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre. As with most reindeer related things, it’s not really a job that is straight-forward but one that has evolved with time, and I’ve tweaked and tweaked each year until it is as workable as possible. But – in usual fashion – the devil is in the details, much of which are in my head and memory and it’s therefore not a job that I delegate to anyone else.
The dream set of antlers everyone wants… (thanks Spartan).
We’ve always sold antlers from the reindeer herd. But is it as easy as 150 reindeer equals 300 antlers per year to sell? Of course it isn’t…
Firstly, we only find around 30-40% (at a rough estimate) of the antlers each year. This is because the reindeer roam on a huge area of rough, upland land, and the time of year when most antlers are shed – January to April – is exactly the time that almost the entire herd are roaming completely freely and are not enclosed at all. The proverbial needle in the haystack. (In fact sometimes finding the herd itself can be a needle/haystack situation, let alone their cast antlers!).
So many antlers, so few of them found.
Secondly, whilst around half of our herd are males, we tend to castrate them at around three years old. This means the bone of their antlers doesn’t calcify to the same extent, and they will usually break their antlers off in pieces as a result. So instead of a nice, clean antler, we get broken sections of – to be quite honest – often rather manky antler, still partly covered with the velvet skin that covered it whilst it grew. Smaller pieces disappear into deep vegetation – never to be seen again – far more easily than a whole antler.
A classic bit of antler from a castrated male. This one’s from Frost – the top third of his right hand antler, still with remaining skin and a little velvet hair. But it’s still a bit of Frost none-the-less, regardless of it’s appearance.Classic antlers from a castrate male around February time- the upright sections have broken off and only the points at the base remain, still with the remnants of the velvet skin and hair. Not particularly glamorous, eh Caribou?!
Once castrated, males also tend to grow relatively smaller antlers than they did as a bull. So we really only get two or three big, mature bull sets of antlers each year. But some of these we keep – for example we have almost all of Sherlock’s antlers, and most of Crann’s. Crann holds the record for the biggest antlers ever in the herd, and as such we’ll never sell them as they are of great nostalgic value to us, even though Crann himself is long gone.
Crann with his 2009 antlers (his second biggest set). They are the ones currently in our shop window that we hang stuff for sale on! COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY: LES WILSON
Antler selling starts in January each year. The mature bulls have dropped their antlers in November/December, and some of our immature bulls then have their antlers cut off in December before they are let out to their winter grazing up on the mountains. This is done for the safety of hill-walkers – a testosterone-charged ‘teenage’ bull could really inflict damage. It’s done long after the feeling in the antler has gone, so causes zero pain.
Two year old bull Domino, looking mighty miffed with his antler stumps.
From (usually) around February or March onwards the cows start dropping their antlers, but for me life gets very busy in the spring with the calving season, followed by writing/editing the June newsletter, so it’s often well into the summer before I pick up the antler list once again.
So… here’s some info for those of you now imagining a nice set of antlers adorning your wall.
Firstly, I give members of our reindeer adoption scheme priority for purchasing antlers over ‘unconnected’ members of the public. I feel it’s a privilege someone who supports our business should get. My method for this is to have a waiting list for adopters to add their name for dibs on ‘their’ reindeer’s antlers, which I work my way through gradually as and when I have something suitable. Should you want to add yourself to this list, drop me an email through the contact form on the website FAO Hen (please don’t just comment on the blog/social media – email means I can keep everything together, and gives better chance of a reply one day from me actually reaching you, rather than disappearing into spam).
If you’ve asked to be on the waiting list in the past, no need to get in touch again – you’ll still be there. Well you will as long as your adoption is still current. I’m afraid that I always double-check someone is still an adopter before emailing them, and you’re scratched off the list if your adoption has lapsed. My list, my rules.
If I have no-one on the waiting list for a particular reindeer’s antler(s), then I will send a letter to all of their (UK based) adopters in one go – and it’s first come, first served. Miss out, and you go on the waiting list. This does mean sometime multiple people are all waiting for the same reindeer to shed his/her antlers – which we might never find from year to year anyway. I’m well aware some poor souls have been languishing on the waiting list for years… sorry.
If you aren’t an adopter of a reindeer and are reading this in despair, wondering whether there’s ever a chance of you getting anything, then all is not lost. Email me anyway, and I have a password-protected webpage with any available antlers on that I can give you details of, and on which you can sign up for occasional email alerts when new ones become available (if I get my arse in gear, this is still only two or three times a year, so don’t worry about me flooding your inbox. (Also, I hate Mailchimp – it’s totally user-unfriendly)). I have separate webpages for single antlers and for pairs, and usually have a much better range of single antlers, since finding both sides of a pair is rarer in the first place.
A small, single antler can be very beautiful – size doesn’t always matter 😉
Final info:
Yes, they do cost a lot. The biggest sets we ever get to sell are in the region of (at time of writing in 2024) £300. The single antler in the photo above was about £60. I guess other places with reindeer in the UK maybe also sell their antlers, but I’ve never actually heard of them doing so. I do my best to price antlers fairly though – every single one is utterly unique and in some way it is a snapshot of that reindeer at that particular point of their life. I’m sure I could push up the prices hugely and they would still sell eventually, but that isn’t the point. It’s a balancing act to try and get it right.
For adopters, if you perhaps can’t afford the antler(s) you been contacted about, it’s still worth going on the waiting list. I might have a glorious £200 set of beautiful antlers one year from your reindeer, and a single broken-off – much cheaper – half antler the next year. But hey, it’s still a piece of antler that your reindeer actually grew, and really it means just as much.
Conversely, you miss out on something small that you had your heart set on. But hey presto you might then be first in line for the potentially much more impressive effort from your reindeer next year. It’s all utterly unpredictable and there’s definitely an element of luck involved.
I can’t post abroad, sorry.
If you can collect your antler(s) rather than me having to package and post them, a) it’s cheaper and b) I love you.
Postage nightmare.
If you receive an ‘antler letter’ through the post – read it properly! I always do my best to describe the antler fully before you phone up to buy it – but have never forgotten the lovely couple who arrived to pick up a set of antlers from their adopted reindeer years ago. The bloke was a bit worried about fitting them in the car. The antlers were about 30cm tall.
Antlers come in all sizes but all shapes too. Forget that classic set of ‘perfect’ shapely reindeer antlers you’ve got in your mind’s eye – they probably aren’t going to look like that… If I’m emailing you directly I’ll attach a photo, and if I’ve sent you a letter, you can ask to see a photo before you decide.
Tall and thin……or short and wide?
As mentioned before, we keep some of the biggest bull antlers. Herders also usually have first dibs on their favourite reindeer’s antlers (I’ll add that (depending on the size of antler) we do usually still have to pay something them!), so there are certain reindeer in the herd whose antlers will come up for sale very rarely, if ever. Huge apologies, if you also adopt one of those reindeer… let’s mention no names.
I do also try to be fair to people – if I know you already have multiple antlers from a certain reindeer but are keen for more, I will usually try and give their other adopters a look in at some point.
And if you adopt Juniper, well don’t give up hope. Ferrari was also a ‘polled’ reindeer (one who doesn’t grow antlers at all) and suddenly sprouted one when she reached 9 years old, so all is not lost. But I wouldn’t get your hopes up too much.
Ferrari in her latter years. Just one antler! But what a nice antler, after 8 years of baldness.
And finally, I’m only human so bear with me as the old brain doesn’t get everything right every time. Apologies again to the lovely lady who I posted the entirely wrong set of antlers to a couple of years ago, and then had to go through a whole rigmarole of getting her to post them on to the correct new owner (Editor’s note: we did get permission to pass on the address first!), whilst I sorted out the right set for her. And years ago I died a little bit inside when I realised we’d sold the same antler to two separate people, and I was going to have to make a very awkward phone-call (although in my defence, it wasn’t actually me that forgot to mark that antler as ‘sold’ on the list). Oh, the horror.
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.
July has been a good month with not a great deal of unusual things going on within the herd really – which is actually rather nice! The boys in the hill enclosure are generally eating lots and putting all their energy into growing lovely antlers and big bellies! Towards the middle of July the reindeer finally start to look themselves and some in particular look very smart in their short summer coats.
School holiday season is definitely upon us! We’ve got very busy with visitors, running three Hill Trips a day during weekdays and two on weekends. The Paddocks and Exhibition have also been popular and the reindeer here at the Centre have done a good job of ‘babysitting’ our two hand-reared calves (Winnie and Alba) overnight. They are now big enough to spend the daytime with the herd on the hill. This allows them to get some good exercise every day and lots of great grazing but they return each evening so they don’t miss out on their night time bottles of milk!
I’ve been lucky to see some of the free ranging females out on the hills too – all looked great and some stonking big calves out there. Well done mums, keep it up!
Hopefully the following photos will give more of an insight into what’s been going on this month.
3rd of July – Lupin and Bond relaxing after a Hill Trip.4th of July – The herd heading up to the shed for a routine temperature check. We try to do this around once a week at this time of year.5th of July – Sunny leading the herd through for their breakfast. What a good boy!6th of July – Jelly strutting his stuff.7th of July – 99 (named after the ice cream) is one of our leucistic reindeer. He was one of the first reindeer to moult into his smart summer coat and is in excellent condition.10th of July – The herd on the move.11th of July – Wafer and Haricot looking soggy after a wet morning. 13th of July – A hill walk on a day off and was lucky to bump into a herd of our free ranging cows and calves. This is three year old Turtle who was looking very well.16th of July – Cicero, Andi and Scoop on a VERY wet morning harness training. Both boys happily grazing not fazed by the situation and Andi is still smiling despite the downpour!17th of July – Sunny (last year’s hand-reared calf) still looking a bit scruffy!18th of July – Alba and WInnie on their way up to “Reindeer School” for the day. They spend the evenings and nights here at the Centre in the Paddocks and the day time on the hill with the herd – good grazing and exercise.20th of July – Yearlings Calippo and Kulfi.23rd of July – So much antler! Morse, Spartan and Kernel.25th of July – LX and Busby. I think they both thought they were missing out on their breakfast!26th of July – Blue skies above the hill enclosure! Summer returned for a day!
June has whizzed by in a cloud of reindeer hair – it’s definitely scruffy reindeer month! Not their most photogenic season but a wonderful time of year nonetheless. After a couple of days off the antlers have noticeably grown – even after six years of working with the herd, I still find it amazing just how quickly it all happens.
The last batch of cows and calves left the enclosure on the 5th and we’ve brought more male reindeer over from the farm to increase our number here to keep our visitors happy on Hill Trips. It’s also the time of year we start harness training – both the reindeer and the herders! It’s a fun way to spend the morning. Another lovely way of spending a morning is walking our two hand-reared calves, Alba and Winnie. This month we have started taking them on daily walks allowing them access to good grazing meanwhile getting all-important exercise.
Lastly, I can’t write a blog post about June 2023 without mentioning the loss of our old reindeer herding collie, Sookie. A very sad time at Reindeer House, but what an amazing life she had and I feel grateful to be part of it. She’ll be missed.
5th of June – The second batch of cows and calves are let out of the hill enclosure for a summer free ranging in the hill.5th of June – Mangetout’s gorgeous wee calf Darling enjoying the lichen moments after being out on the free range!6th of June – A hot day for Sherlock, he’s cooling down by sticking his feet in a good boggy patch of Sphagnum moss.7th of June (a) – A trip to the farm for me! You can just see Tilly leading the older boys and young bulls down into the shed. We collected 6 young bulls and brought them over to the hill enclosure here on Cairngorm.7th of June (b) – Kate and volunteer Amy leading the young bulls into the enclosure.10th of June – Magnum doing everything a reindeer is supposed to do in June. Looking scruffy and antler tapping. 11th of June – Amy has been volunteering with us for the week. Here she is leading LX and Olympic out of the enclosure. They’re on their way back to Tilly at the hill farm which they’ll be delighted about as it means ad-lib food!15th of June – What a glorious morning for a Hill Trip,16th of June – The first harness training session of the summer! We trained both reindeer and humans and all did superbly. EK and Spartan are at the front.19th of June – Kiruna and his beautiful antlers.20th of June – Harness training for Jelly, Cameron and Jester.21st of June – Sherlock showing off his yoga moves. Sorry about the camera angle, Sherlock!23rd of June – It’s well known that I have a huge soft spot for Dr Seuss. He often moults all the hair on his nose before his lovely summer coat grows though so for a few weeks of the year he has a very pick nose. We apply sun cream to him which unfortunately for him is bright yellow. 25th of June – Amy and I take the hand-reared calves Winnie and Alba for their afternoon stroll. Good exercise and grazing for them both.26th of June – Two-year-old Jester growing a super set of antlers.27th of June – Anster being Anster. Such a greedy lad, he jumped into the calf pen in the Paddocks to eat all their extra goodies.
April has been a busy month with some glorious spring weather and some incredibly wild winter weather too. The first half of the month saw the Easter Holidays so we had lots of visitors around – some days we put on an additional Hill Trip in the afternoon when the morning visit sold out, and in the afternoons we ran “Seasonal Herder Talks” in our Paddocks. The second half of the month was busy with moving reindeer around getting them in the right places for the fast-approaching calving season… exciting! Pregnant females were brought into our hill enclosure and the “single ladies” (mostly the old girls retired from breeding or ones having a year off motherhood) were put back out to free range after a quick health check in the enclosure.
It’s been a fun month watching antlers casting and growing, and bellies widen on our pregnant females! Bring on calving season!
1st of April: We have reindeer back in our Paddocks! From left to right is Kiruna, Jelly, Sherlock and Busby, all here for the first half of the Easter holidays.2nd of April: Fiona and I spent the day with Tilly where we brought of some male reindeer down from their winter free range. Here we have Dr Seuss, Spartan and Scolty ready to be taken down to the hill farm in Glenlivet.5th of April: Andi and I spent the morning moving the reindeer into position for the morning Hill Trip. You can just see Andi in the distance letting the calves feed out of the bags first.6th of April: Cousins Fab and Tub causing trouble!7th of April: Lopsided Florence demonstrating an excellent example of antler growth and development. 8th of April: Sherlock not remotely bothered about our wobbly fence, but it’s easy to forgive him with a nose like that!11th of April: Beautiful morning to see the free ranging herd. Here they are crossing a burn with the Northern Corries looking dramatic in the distance.11th of April: Emm is here and grinning away as always! Emm is one of our fabulous volunteers and was up for for a couple of weeks to help us out during April, Here she is defending the bags from the older reindeer. 12th of April: The return of winter! A VERY wintery and wild day to be on the hill. Here’s Fly leading the herd, growing her lovely velvety antlers. Pumpkin and Lace not too far behind.13th of April: Fly posing beautifully, showing off her fast-growing antlers. Cameron in the background waiting for me to stop taking photos!16th of April: Fiona feeding the herd in the hill enclosure. Check out that wide belly nearest the camera!17th of April: Glacée almost a year old and looking gorgeous! Her new antlers just beginning to grow.19th of April: Marple and her calf from 2022, Viennetta, are now in the enclosure after a winter free ranging. 20th of April; All three leucistic calves together – from left to right we’ve got 99, Mr Whippy and Vanilla.21st of April: Moving the free rangers through the ski area on a gorgeous sunny morning.24th of April: Beret appreciating her winter coat more today after the recent sunny weather – there’s snow dusting Meall a’ Bhuachaille (the hill behind) and hail showers during the Hill Trip. 27th of April: The boys are back in town! Fiona and I spent the morning at the hill farm and brought back six lovely Christmas Reindeer to the enclosure here on Cairngorm. Super to have them here again!
Following on from the blog last week, with lots of silly photos of reindeer yawning (click here to see that) I thought I’d post a blog show-casing the various sleeping postures of reindeer!
It does seem like the perfect time to post this blog as with the busy Christmas season now over, and the Reindeer Centre shutting on Monday the 9th of January until Saturday the 11th of February, most reindeer herders are generally looking in need of a decent sleep too!
So, for no other reason than hopefully to make a few folk smile, here comes lots of photos of snoozing reindeer…
Here’s the loveable Celt (mid-moult) sleeping directly on his nose. A popular sleeping posture for many reindeer! July 2021.An arty picture of Stenoa, also having a kip on his snozzle – October 2021.This is Clouseau demonstrating the curled in a ball method of sleeping, right next to a visitor’s feet – July 2022.Here’s Kipling in the ball position – March 2022.Hobnob is using the ball technique in December 2022 during a blizzard.During a Christmas event in Langholm, December 2021, Bond opted for the ball technique.Another sleeping position is with a head on one side and an antler flat on the ground. Dr Seuss is displaying this beautifully here – September 2022.Here’s Spartan demonstrating the head on one side technique – August 2021.Busby found a nice comfy tussock here to use as a pillow – December 2021.Dr Seuss snoozing again, this time using a mossy pillow to make sure he’s extra comfortable – October 2021.Another position is the completely flat-out, and in this case soaking up as much sun as possible! Here is Texel and her calf (now named 99) in early June 2022.Busby in the middle of this group of dozing reindeer is also displaying the flat-out method! Meanwhile, his mum Hopscotch (closet to the camera) is choosing to sleep on her nose. December 2022.Sunny often used the flat-out method in our kitchen by the washing machine – May 2022.At an event in Aberfeldy, Sunny opted for the flat out method again, whilst his team mates are mostly using the ball strategy! December 2022.Legs out with a head curled back was Sunny’s preferred napping choice here – July 2022.Morse (closest to the camera) is also choosing the legs out, head curled back method for his post-Hill Trip nap in this picture. Meanwhile, Spider (middle) is in the ball position and Spartan (back) is on his chin – August 2021.And the grand finale – my ultimate snoozy reindeer photo! Topi having a wee nap on Fiona’s shoulder mid-parade on Christmas Day 2017.
