The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

Most of the females in the herd still have their antlers just now but it won't be long until they cast them. See that black ring at the base? That's the new antler starting to grow, which will push the old one off, a bit like a child's milk tooth being replaced by an adult tooth.

Hen takes a look back at the winter of 2009-2010 in our latest blog...

Young female Bordeaux is going for the cute factor. Everyone say "aah!" (She's a real sweetie!)

FEATURED REINDEER: Just now our adoption scheme is critical to keeping our business going, so we are highlighting a different reindeer in the herd every few days – just in case anyone fancies adopting them and helping us along in the process. In general visitors tend to be more familiar with our male reindeer, so it’s also an opportunity to let some of our females shine, and to introduce some of the very varying characters in the herd at the same time!
Today our featured rein...deer is CHRISTIE. In May she’ll be three years old, and she has some big hoofprints to fill as her mum was herd matriarch Caddis. Caddis was a big brute of a female, enormous in body size, antler size and attitude, and year on year produced whopping great calves, with seemingly no effort whatsoever. Christie is her last daughter, and while she’s been a bit of a ‘background’ reindeer so far, she’s finally starting to come into her own. This winter her confidence has come on in leaps and bounds, so much so that we can’t get away from her at times if a feed bag happens to be involved! She’s hugely distinctive too, with a speckly nose and legs. Christie is part of a big family, including her sister Mozzarella, brother Sherlock, aunties Santana, Gazelle and Camembert, and cousins Celt, Athens and Aztec.
To learn more about our adoption scheme and to adopt Christie (or another of her pals), please visit: http://www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/adopt/
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Olympic is easily amused!

Airborne Aztec!

Gloriana is pretty proud of her beautiful home!

We think young Texel is the cutest of the cute! And she knows it!

Not directly reindeer-related this one, but it is an issue we'd like to highlight as it affects our lovely friend Manouk, who worked with us as a reindeer herder until early March before moving on to a new job. Having not been on the payroll of her new company on 28th February 2020, she is now unable to claim support from the government and has no means of income during this crisis.
Please take a moment to sign this petition, as regardless of whether it affects anyone you know, it is hugely unfair to the thousands of people who just happened to have started new jobs in March and are now facing huge income issues :-(
http://ow.ly/53OI50yYToi

FEATURED REINDEER: Just now our adoption scheme is critical to keeping our business going, so we thought we’d highlight a different reindeer in the herd every few days – just in case anyone fancied adopting them and helping us along in the process. In general visitors tend to be more familiar with our male reindeer, so we also thought it would be an opportunity to let some of our females shine, and to introduce some of the very varying characters in the herd at the same time!...
So today we’re starting with FETA (no prizes for guessing the naming theme that year!). Nearly 7 years old, she is a distinctive reindeer in the herd as she is very dark in colour, with a short face and chubby cheeks. Her mum was a reindeer named Hopper (seen the photo with Feta as a newborn calf), who was very similar in appearance. Feta is not the boldest reindeer in the herd, but we feel she’s also been a bit over-looked at times – sometimes the overtly friendly, greedy reindeer hog all the attention! While Feta herself can be quite shy, her only calf so far was the lovely Glenshee (sadly no longer with us) who was one of the boldest, most memorable characters in the herd in recent years, so we’re hoping Feta will produce a few more mini-Glenshee’s in the years to come!
To learn more about our adoption scheme and to adopt Feta (or another of her pals), please visit: http://www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/adopt/
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Can't beat the snow for a lovely comfy bed! Wapiti is having a lovely snooze. Her coat is so thick that she won't even melt the snow beneath.

Feeding the herd on the Cromdale free-range - they know the quad bike means food is enroute!

Fabulous photo of Berlin!

Tilly looks at how reindeer deal with hard times in this week's blog: http://ow.ly/OBa350yXmoK

If times get hard, perhaps the reindeer will share their food with us...

Hopscotch and her daughter Kipling say hi!

The calves and older females were enjoying a bit of priority feed direct from the bag this morning. The herders who live in at the Centre are doing the feed - big smiles from Fi, Lotti and Joe. Meanwhile the rest of the herders are working from home - here's Hen and Andi working on admin, with a glamorous assistant...

Who's the most glamorous girl? Galilee of course!