Katie's adventures with reindeer!: Day 5

I was pleased to discover on arrival that Sookie the dog was safely home! It turns out that last night two of the herders went back to the hillside to look for her again even though it was dark- and when they returned home they found her waiting! She knows the area well and had made her own way back. So that was good news to start the day.

I stayed at the visitor centre for the first part of the morning, as the first feeding session of the day required much more expert knowledge than mine to check up on Fergus, and to hold him still while he was being treated. So I remained behind at the centre with one of the others, and did the morning set up routine, and also did a good batch of food mixing- everything I made up the other day is already gone! Those that went up the hill reported that Fergus had made it through the night, but was still much the same as he had been the day before.

The morning hill walk to the enclosure was led by Hen today- it has been led by someone different every time I've been (or a different combination of people), so its great to hear how different people run the talks, and the different bits of information they each share. The talks are not very fixed- there are some important bits of information that are shared every time, but there is so much to tell about reindeer, the surroundings, and the history of the herd, that its never quite the same twice. There were some people who stayed for a while, keen to photograph the reindeer, and chat about them. It's always interesting hearing their questions, and learning the answers. On the way back we met a new bull who was being led to the enclosure, to take over from Fergus- even if he recovers, he needs to reserve his strength to make it through the winter. As rutting takes up a lot of energy, he won't be going back in with the females.

In the afternoon I had my first office job- sticking labels to photographs, that are to be posted to the sponsors. People can sponsor a reindeer for £39 per year, and they get updates and gifts. Some people choose to sponsor a favourite reindeer that they met on their visit, so there are some very popular ones!

There was to be some sleigh training later on that afternoon, but the afternoon feed took place first, as it seemed to work better logistically to do it that way. I was not helping with the afternoon feed today, but they brought back the sad news with them that Fergus had sadly died. Herders are used to loosing reindeer- its not uncommon given the size of the herd, but there was definitely a sad feeling in the air- he was only 3, and only a couple of days ago seemed so strong and in his prime!

The final part of the day brought another round of sleigh training, with the four new reindeer in the paddocks. One of which hadn't been harnessed up before, and two more who hadn't for a while. On the whole they were quite well behaved, though Stenoa kept trying to shake his harness off. I enjoyed helping out with this- there were fewer herders today so I got a bit more time to help out holding reins, and taking them for a short jog down the path to 'get rid of their beans' before the harnessing commenced.

Final day tomorrow! I wonder what it shall bring.

A few pictures below of the afternoon hill visit.