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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 1d

Mangetout and Holy Moley have both spent all summer out free-ranging in the hills. They both had a year off calving last year so we have brought them into the enclosure for the rut this year. 🤩

Holy Moley only ever grows one antler, whereas Mangetout grows an enourmous set. Aren't they phenomenal?

Two female reindeer stand on the hillside looking at the camera. The left hand reindeer has an enormous pair of antlers and the right have reindeer has a smaller single antler.

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 2d

This week's blog is written by Daisy! Daisy volunteered with us for a week in May and we were delighted to welcome her back as an official reindeer herder in August. Her blog is a fantastic read, all about her first month working as a herder... enjoy! 🤩

www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/2025/10/03/m...

My first month as a reindeer herder - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

It was 2022 I think, when I found a book in a local Waterstone’s in Kent entitled ‘An Arctic Life’ by Tilly Smith. At that point I had a road trip with my dog planned for the Cairngorms and fancied a ...

www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 4d

Problems on the hill road after Storm Amy! Now we are into the winter season, full waterproofs (inc over-trousers) are often mandatory to take part in a Hill Trip, for safety reasons. Hypothermia is a very real issue on a cold wet day in the mountains - and one that we'd really rather avoid! 🥶

Two Scot Pine trees lie on their side over a road

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 7d

This calf has been in the enclosure for the last wee while, he's getting really tame and inquisitive! 🤩
He has been named, but, as always, we don't name any of our calves online until the October newsletter has announced them to our adopters. 🤫

A calf with a white nose and small velvety antlers lies on the ground looking at the camera.

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 8d

Handsome Jester striding towards us on this morning's hill trip! 🤩

A dark reindeer with tall, velvetty antlers walks towards the camera. Behind him the sky is blue with white clouds.

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 10d

It's #WorldRiversDay - a day to celebrate & raise awareness for the critical role rivers play worldwide. In 2023 we named our calves after world rivers. We have a Nile, Shannon and Yukon etc... but the star of this post is the beautiful Amazon! She's a lovely lass and behind her is her mum, Dante! 😍

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 12d

It's the last Friday of the month so time for our monthly photo blog. The reindeer are looking fantastic at this time of year so it’s well worth a wee look! 👌📸 www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/2025/09/26/p...

Photo Blog: September 2025 - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

September is a beautiful time of year. We’ve had the first snow on the plateau and lovely autumnal sunny days. The odd soggy day too, of course! The reindeer look fantastic with fully grown antlers an...

www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 15d

These photos were taken just over 4 months apart! Morven's calf has grown into a chunky little lass and is growing in confidence now she's back in the hill enclosure and meeting visitors every day. And Morven herself is in excellent condition but has grown the most peculiar set of curly antlers! 😂

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 16d

Happy Monday from the gorgeous Brie and her son, Cicero! 🤩

Brie was born in 2013 when all of our calves were named after different types of Cheese and Cicero was born in 2020 when all of our calves were named after Beans, Seeds and Peas. Cicero's name comes from the Latin for Chickpea! 🧀🫘🫛

A small female reindeer with velvetty antlers stands close to the camera. A tall male reindeer, also with velvetty antlers stands in the background.

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 17d

This week's blog is from herder Amy, and is all about her time out with our free-range reindeer this summer. It's full of photos of this years calves, grab and cuppa and enjoy! 🤩

www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/2025/09/19/s...

Summer free ranging - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

This summer I have had a lovely spell of catching up with our cows and calves out on the free range. After missing both of the nights that we lead the cows and calves out onto the free range a small g...

www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 20d

Borlotti's calf has been getting a lot of love on hill trips recently due to his distinctive white colouring but we think Borlotti is pretty gorgeous too! 🤩

Borlotti's calf, pictured behind her here, is leucistic, a genetic condition causing a partial lack of pigmentation.

A female reindeer with a white nose stands looking at the camera. Behind her is a white reindeer calf grazing.

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 22d

It's #tongueouttuesday👅! Here's lovely Magnum, not looking as handsome as normal...

A large reindeer with tall antlers is on a heathery hillside, with his eyes closed and his pink tongue sticking out!

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 23d

As the 'velvet' strips from the antlers recently, it can look very gory. However, these two photos of young bull Limpopo were taken 36 hours apart, so it doesn't take long for the antlers to look 'clean' after the blood left behind dries/washes off in the rain.

How handsome does Limpopo look?!

A composite photo of two headshots of the same reindeer, side on. On the left his antlers are covered in dark brown furry 'velvet' skin, and on the right his antlers are bone, with no skin covering them at all.

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 24d

Over at our Glenlivet farm, where some of the reindeer spend part of each year, we also have a herd of red deer. Collective decision between most of us reindeer herders however, is that they are rather big and scary compared to the reindeer! Or at least the stags are in the autumn rutting season...😬

Andi, a reindeer herder, stands in front of a tall fence. Behind the fence is a gigantic red deer stag with enormous pointy antlers. Andi looks quite scared!

A herd of red deer stags, all with big antlers, stand on a hillside with trees in the background. All are the normal red colour apart from one, who is white.

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 26d

As always, Friday means BLOG DAY! 🥳

This weeks blog is from Beni and is all about the connection between people and reindeer.

www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/2025/09/12/p...

People of the Reindeer - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

The people of the northern hemisphere and reindeer have a long-interconnected history. In the days of the ice ages reindeer were known as far south as Spain and as one of the larger and least scary an...

www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 27d

We've posted lots of photos of our gorgeous calves and handsome bulls recently, but we can't forget our wonderful 'Christmas reindeer'! These are the non-breeding males who we train to harness. 3 yr old Kulfi was looking very handsome this morning, with his beard blowing in the wind! 😍

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 28d

What a difference a summer can make! 🤯

Here is Helsinki and her calf in May and then again last week!

The coat that they are born with is different in colour to their adult coats. When she was born Helsinki's calf was really distinctive with dark face and back, you can still see the resemblance.

A young reindeer calf with a dark face and gingery sides stands next to her mother.

a reindeer mother and calf stand next to each other on a hillside.

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · 29d

This is Choc-ice stripping the velvet from his antlers. Yesterday afternoon he had intact velvet covering his antlers, and this morning he looked like this! 🤯 It's a fascinating process so we thought it deserved another photo! 🤩

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · Sep 8

It's the time of year when the reindeer strip the velvet from their antlers. Here is Rocket stripping the velvet a few days ago! 🚀 Whilst this looks gory, rest assured this process is completely painless. Any blood you can see is residual. Rocket has now completely clean antlers and very handsome!

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · Sep 7

We'd had lots of sunshine and showers this week which also means, lots of rainbows! 🌈

Here is Zambezi looking gorgeous to brighten your Sunday morning! 🤩

A female reindeer with beautiful antlers stands on a heathery hillside.

Behind her there is a bright rainbow against a grey sky.

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · Sep 6

This weeks blog is another fantastic blog by Emm, one of our wonderful volunteers. 🥳

It's all about her week of volunteering this time last year so contains lots of photos of last years calves who, by now, are all cheeky teenagers. 😂

www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/2025/09/05/v...

Volunteer Blog: Emm’s visit in September 2024 - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

The September visit was very special. We were lucky enough to attend Fiona and Joe’s wedding and celebrations. They got married on top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille, the hill behind Reindeer House. It was a...

www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · Sep 3

Texel and her mini-me daughter are back in the enclosure after a summer out in the hills. 😍 The calves are being named tomorrow evening! But as ever we won't be naming any of the calves online until our adopters find out their names in the October newsletter. A perk of being a reindeer adopter!

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · Sep 1

We've had a busy August, with fully booked Hill Trips, plenty of free-range missions bringing in cows and calves, and lots of behind the scenes work going on in our Exhibition. Have a look at the blog to see lots of photos taken over the past month 🤩📸 www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/2025/08/29/p...

Photo Blog: August 2025 - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

August has been a busy and fun month. We've had lots of visitors and three sold out Hill Trips almost everyday. Lots of people have also been coming into the Paddocks to see the reindeer on display th...

www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · Aug 31

Sundae and her calf are now back in our hill enclosure having spent the summer out free-ranging. 🤩

More than half of this years calves are now back in the enclosure keeping the herders busy working out who is who! 🤯

A female reindeer with a white face and beautiful antlers stands next to a normal coloured reindeer calf. Behind them the sky is blue with fluffy white clouds.

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Cairngorm Reindeer Herd @cairngormreindeer.bsky.social · Aug 27

Kernel is a friendly fella and a keen hand-feeder so lots of our visitors are getting to meet him very closely! Kernel was a breeding bull during the 2024 rut, so he is a father to lots of this year's calves. This autumn will be rather different for Kernel as he'll be learning to pull a sleigh! 🛷 🤩

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