UK Reindeer Herd Get's Ready for Christmas

27th November
 
When you think of the Scottish Highlands you might think of Highland Cows or perhaps Black Grouse. Less well known is that since 1952 it has been home to a Reindeer herd, after a Swedish herder, Mikel Utsi introduced them in Scotland as an experiment. By 1979 over 500 Reindeer had been bred in Scotland and a healthy herd had been established.

Reindeers roaming the Cairngorms - Credit: Alex Smith

The Reindeers which require no shelter and can find their own basic food even under snow thrived and continue to roam the Scottish landscape. In 1979 Mikel Utsi died and his wife Dr E.J Lindgren continued to manage the herd until her death in 1988. Then the herd was bought by Tilly and Alan Smith, who married each other after working as helpers to Mr Utsi. They continue to run the Reindeer Company to this day.

Can you tell us a bit about the herd at Cairngorm? eg. size, how many have you bred, how they interact etc.

At the moment we have about 150 reindeer in the herd, the majority of the males 3 years and older are castrated, we have several breeding bulls, and the remainder are females and young bulls. Every few years we bring in some new young bulls from Northern Sweden, which become our main breeding bulls. This keeps the gene pool as large as possible.
 
What is the habitat like in the Cairngorms, how much space do they roam, what wildlife is in the area?

The habitat in the Cairngorms is heather moorland and regenerating Caledonian pine forest. The Cairngorm plateau reaches heights of over 4000 ft, where the habitat becomes arctic tundra. This is the only place in Britain with this habitat, and hence the only habitat entirely suitable for a free-ranging herd. There are no fences, so the reindeer can roam where they like, generally over an area of about 7000 hectares. Other wildlife includes red and roe deer (which the reindeer don't interact with at all), eagles, ptarmigan, grouse, and wildcats and red squirrels in the forests.
 
Your herd can be visited, is there any particular times of year that are best to visit, what can visitors do etc?

We do daily visits to feed the herd on the hill between early February and the beginning of January, at 11am, also at 2.30pm May to September. This is 1.5-2 hour guided tour, during which everyone can get a chance to handfeed the deer. There is also an exhibition and a shop down here at the Reindeer Centre, and we have reindeer in paddocks here between May and December for people unable to make the hill visit.
 
What will the Reindeers be getting up to in the run up to Christmas?

During November and December our castrated male reindeer go on tour around Britain to Christmas events (for example town centre parades), they are all trained to pull sleighs. We have around 50 castrated males ('Christmas reindeer') so they all swap around so no one reindeer does too many events. They go straight back out on to the mountains afterwards.

Meeting the crowds with Father Christmas - Credit: Alex Smith

Do you have a favourite reindeer in your herd, if so which one and why?

I think everyone who works here probably has a different favourite! All of our deer have names and we know them all individually, it's a bit difficult to pick favourites!!!

For more info about visiting the Reindeer Centre during December, which local towns and cities they will be visiting, adopting a reindeer etc. visit their website HERE.

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