The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

The only reindeer herd to be found in the UK

Reindeer will always make me think of Christmas. I think it will for lots of us of course, with reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh every single year, and being a usual animal that we see as ornaments, and on Christmas cards and wrappings.

The last records of a wild British reindeer go back almost 1,000 years ago because of climate change and the habitat just not being suitable for reindeer to thrive. But in 1952, a man and wife duo called Mikel Utsi and Dr. Ethel Lindgren co-founded the Reindeer Company and introduced reindeer in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland after seeing how the sub-arctic qualities of the Cairngorms were a perfect home for reindeer - especially the found sources of ground, rock and tree lichens (a reindeer’s favourite food).

The Reindeer Herd are still going strong to this day with over 150 individuals roaming freely over 10,000 acres in the mountainsides. It is the only place left in the UK that can support reindeer. And I see the herd every year, thanks to t…