Reindeer House life - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

18th September 202617th September 2026

Volunteer Blog: Emm is Back! March 2026 – Part 2

When we left off with part 1 of Emm’s visit back in March, the days had been filled with reindeer and herder antics! Enjoy part 2 below…

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I had a great time catching up with all the dogs again. With Daisy and Alicia I went on a walk with Daisy’s dogs called Echo and Asta. This visit was the first time meeting the lovely Asta who is a 4-month-old collie. We went up the hill behind Reindeer House then down through the woods and onto a path going downhill. My herding friends call it ‘the wee loop’. We saw lovely views of the mountains and Loch Morlich. Daisy was showing us where to take the best photos of the lovely views. We all had a selfie too.

Asta, Daisy, Echo, Emm, and Alicia enjoying a walk as the sun set over Loch Morlich.

One time, I was locking up the car park at the Reindeer Centre when I noticed the dogs had got out of the front garden of Reindeer House. Echo, Asta and Sanna were running around and Tiree was standing in the front garden by the open top gate deciding whether to go and join the other dogs or stay in the front garden. I managed to get Atsa and pick her up and went to find Daisy to help and we rounded up Echo and Sanna, led them into the front garden and Daisy shut the gate. Another herding job completed!

After one of the hill trips, me, Lotti and Cameron went to find River, the 10-month-old calf. The reindeer had wandered over a bit of a distance after the hill trip. Whilst we were walking over there, Winnie, the hand-reared reindeer, had stayed with us and followed us over. We walked past a group of hill walkers. We must have looked a sight, three herders with one reindeer following. Winnie went over to the hill walkers to see if they had food for her which made them laugh and then continued following us.

We found River amongst the reindeer and she was limping being a bit sore from the vaccination. Cameron put her on a head collar and then distracted her with a bag of food whilst Lotti injected her with a painkiller. We noticed Dante’s antlers, which are quite big, had fallen off overnight. Lotti walked up to the top of the hill and across the top to the site where the reindeer had been to see if she could find them while Cameron and I headed down the hill back to the reindeer van. We picked up Lotti on the other side of the hill in the reindeer van but she hadn’t found any antlers.

More herding on the free range, looking over at the wonderful hills and loch below.

When on the free-range the reindeer can end up anywhere. One day Lotti dropped me off with Fiona at the carpark and we walked up a very steep hill to find the reindeer to bring them down to a visit spot. We found them at the top of the hill very high up all sitting down and dosing. Meanwhile Lotti had brought the reindeer van to the other side of the hill to another car park where we would finish our walk. Then she walked to the visit spot to drop the reindeer food off. Fiona led the reindeer and I herded from the back. When the reindeer were getting up and beginning to move, I noticed Morris who is a 10-month-old calf still asleep and dreaming because he was twitching and had his eyes closed. Morris is leucistic (a pure white coloured reindeer) who are sometimes born deaf and we think Morris is deaf so he sometimes doesn’t hear the herd move on. I gently woke Morris up and got him moving herding at the back, I looked for any antlers on the ground which might had fallen off as we went but I didn’t find any. Lotti joined me and helped me at the back. We walked down the hill to the visit spot. The 10-month-old calves fed out of the bag then we fed the others and counted them to make sure they were all there.

The greedy calves from last spring making sure they get their fill first.

I helped at the Open Day for the Businesses. It was in the afternoon and there were hot and cold drinks, biscuits, homemade cakes and homemade scones in Santa’s Bothy where people helped themselves. The log burner was on in Santa’s Bothy too. There was bunting up and four reindeer in the paddocks who had come over the day before ready for the open day and the Easter Holidays. They were Kernal, Cicero, Iskrem and Cornetto. They were a good group of reindeer because Kernal and Cicero still had their antlers and Iskrem and Cornetto had started to grow their antlers. We could show the visitors the different stages of antler growth. Herders were there to talk to the visitors and answer questions.

Santa’s Bothy looking inviting with drinks and snacks inside during open day.

The new outdoor reindeer information signs had been put up ready in the morning. The paddocks, new exhibition and shop was open. I enjoyed talking to people and answering their questions. The day went very well so I passed on the star herders’ badge to Tilly and the team because of all the hard work they had done for the Open Day as well as with all the planning and completion of the new Reindeer Centre. They had given the reindeer herd such a positive future granting Mikel Utsi’s wish of someone successfully taking the reindeer herd on.

Tilly now repping the star herders badge.

One March trip was memorable as I went on my wettest and windiest trip ever to find the reindeer and feed them. Daisy and Andi had gone to fetch the reindeer and walk them across the hills, very high up, and they phoned down to the Reindeer Centre to stay it was too dangerous to bring visitors to see the reindeer that day and to cancel the hill trip. Amy, Hen and I went up the hill to take over from Andi and Daisy to take the reindeer to a different area in the hill. As we climbed up a very steep hill, it rained very heavily, but luckily was not as windy as Daisy and Andi had had it. I had a bag with a bucket of reindeer feed on my back and it was a bit hard going. We met Andi, Daisy and the reindeer and took over. Amy led the reindeer and, with Hen, I herded from the back. We got them to a different area and fed and counted them to make sure they were all there. It was still so windy and wet and, while I was counting the reindeer, I stepped in a deep bog again and got soaked! We then left the reindeer to it and the wind started to pick up again. Amy had to hold my arm when I did up my shoelace on a rock.

Herding the reindeer on a windy and wet day. Come rain or shine, the herders take to the hills.

On my next hill trip with Daisy and Hen to the free-range there was snow on the ground but the sun was shining. When we found the reindeer we started with the adaption talk to the visitors but suddenly a very snowy blizzard came in so we had to put our ski googles on. It was so amazing how quickly the weather changes in the mountains but the reindeer were loving the snow. After Hen and Daisy put the food out the visitors hand-fed the reindeer. Normally the reindeer then hang around after the hand-feed and the visitors can get close to them and take photos, but they started to wander off to explore the snow, led by Turtle. We had to herd them back whilst Daisy called them and it worked so the visitors got more time with them.

A fresh layer of snow to burry the heather again.

Near the end of my visit at the end of one day, we had a fire alarm test so Andi set it off. Unfortunately, the fire alarm then set off the security alarm and Andi didn’t know how to turn it off. It was very noisy!! Eventually with Cameron and Hen’s help and a phone call to the security company she was able to turn it off which was a great relief to all.

It was great to catch up with some of the calves and on one occasion I saw a 10-month-old reindeer calf Haka suckle from their mum Christie. This was unusual because they normally stop suckling at four or five months old and it was very cute to see. On another one of the hill trips, some of the 10-month-old calves and younger reindeer were running around so fast in the snow and chasing each other. They were very excited and seemed to be having lots of fun.

Haka suckling from mum Christie, so lovely to see the strong bond between cows and their calves.

The visits were often in the snow this time. When Sheena was getting the reindeer to the visit spot one morning a snow blizzard blew through and her socks got very, very wet. When she got back to the Reindeer Centre, she realised that she didn’t have any spare socks so she improvised; she turned her gloves inside out and put them on her feet! Such a clever idea. I took a photo as she then walked around the Reindeer Centre in her gloves which worked.

Sheena’s problem solved mitten socks – coming soon to our shop…

Back at Reindeer House there was a new “Brenda”, the truck which we transport the reindeer in, and the electric van had been fixed. The electric van was in the garage being fixed on my last visit. As usual there were quite a few jobs to do. I met the new hoover, which was blue, and he is called Charles. He can hoover dry floors and wet floors so I swept, hoovered and mopped the floors and outside the Reindeer Centre. There were wellies to be washed and put them up to dry then put back in the welly rack. I dusted the shelves in the shop and restocked the shop and put the green bins out. My mum says I never do any of those jobs when I’m at home!

An important job is the feed mixing in the cement mixer where I put a few ingredients, sugar beet, cattle crunch, barley oats, dark grains, molichaff, calcium powder and a bit of cooking oil to make up the reindeer food. I helped Andi in the shop with a stock count, counting adoption gift packs, magnets, pin badges, pens, glasses cleaners and 5^th year adoption photos, folded up the tea towels and separated the stickers for the children’s quiz. Children get a sticker when they bring the quiz back after doing it in the exhibition and paddocks at the Reindeer Centre. There are 4 separate picture stickers; Nuii sitting in the snow, Roman as a breeding bull, Torch looking up at you and Camomile as a calf.

There are jobs to do with the reindeer in the paddocks as well with poo-picking in the morning. Letting the reindeer through to the daytime area and giving them their breakfast and later in the day, as they spend the night time in the woods, I led them through to their night time area and give them their tea.

Another beautiful snowy day in Glenmore.

It is always nice to meet new faces and, on this visit, I met Jess who was a part-time reindeer herder recently joined and her lovely dog called Maui. I also met Alicia’s lovely dog called Iona which was a new dog for me. I try to catch up also with past herders when possible and I went to see Lisette and the Highland Cows who she now works with in Fort William. She is based in Glen Nevis and it is spectacular. It was so exciting seeing Lisette and meeting her Highland Cows. Each Highland Cow had a name and we met the four youngest first who were the calves from last year. They were curious and I sat on a rock and they came over and started licking my coat and one of them even licked my face. They explore by licking things with their tongue. We then went to meet the bull and his friend but we stayed on the other side of the fence just in case!

Then we went to meet the main herd. Most of them were sitting down chilling and my mum and I got to groom one of them which was very exciting. Some of the Highland Cows were pregnant one of whom was due to give birth in the following few days. Lisette gave us lots of brilliant information about Highland Cows and told us all about each one of them. After we met them, we managed a cup of tea in her garden and met her dog called Munro. It was so lovely seeing Lisette and catching up with her and seeing the Highland Cows and Munro.

I am so excited about coming back to work with the reindeer and my special herding friends in September. I can’t wait. I am counting down the days.

Love from Emm xxxxxxxx

11th September 202623rd August 2026

Volunteer Blog: Emm’s is Back! March 2026 – Part 1

The first few minutes of my stint working in March started with a bang! Daisy Kate and I got in the reindeer van to go to the hill enclosure. As Daisy drove away she forgot the drain pipe was on the ground outside Reindeer House and she drove over it and there was a loud bang and it sounded like the van floor was coming out. Daisy said “oh, no, we haven’t started well and this is going to go in Emm’s blog.” Lol. Well it has Daisy but I know you are the blog wrangler now and that it might be edited out. Lol.

Editors note: I could never cut anything from your blogs Emm. But I think what we should really be asking ourselves is who put that drain there in the first place?!…

Foxtrot, just as excited as the rest of us to have Emm back!

In March, the reindeer are normally free-ranging and we do hill visits on the free-range. When I got there, the reindeer were in the hill enclosure. The reason for that they were having their vaccinations. I helped in the shed in the hill enclosure by being a helpful set of hands, holding things. Every reindeer had their temperature done too. The reindeer who were there and who are normally free-ranging on the Cairngorms at this time of year are the females and the 10-month-old calves.

Arta, Earl Grey and Hobnob in the handling pen of our reindeer shed.

After the vaccinations, I went with Kate to Tilly’s farm. On the way we passed Kate’s house so she could quickly grab her lunch for work she had forgotton. I met her lovely cat called Kenji. We had our lunch in Tilly’s farmhouse, and I saw Tuva, Tilly’s lovely Border Terrier. We then went to the reindeer who were at the farm who were mainly males but a few females too and herded them into the shed. The female reindeer and the 10-month-old calves were being vaccinated and with the male reindeer having their temperature done. I helped by putting headcollars on them and holding them. They were all so good. I saw my 2 adopted reindeer called Scully and Zoom. I even saw Scully’s 10-month-old calf called Rumba. It was really nice seeing them all. With Kate we took the reindeer onto the hill area on the farm and fed them.

Tilly showed us the sheep and we went to get some food for the pigs which was barley and then Tilly fed the pigs and showed them to us. Some of the pigs had 1 month old piglets who were so cute. We filled some water containers for the pig’s water. The next job was to fill some bags with sugarbeet, an ingredient we use in the reindeer food mix, and put the bags into the back of the reindeer van. Whilst we were filling up the sugarbeet bags in the barn, the Red Deer who were in there were very interested in what we were doing and one was putting its head through the fence to try to get some. It was great to see all the different animals as well as the reindeer at the farm and we got around the farm on a quad bike which Tilly drove which was very exciting!

The next morning, the reindeer were still in the hill enclosure. They stayed in there for a few days so we could keep an eye on them. I led them to a different part of the hill enclosure and called them. Andi and Amy herded them from the back. They were at the top ridge of the hill enclosure when we got there. We called them down and fed them their breakfast.

On the last day of the reindeer being in the hill enclosure, we did the hill trip at the very top of the top corridor in the hill enclosure. It was the first time I have ever done a trip in the top corridor. It was so windy and cold. After the hill trip, Andi and Kate and I sent the reindeer back on to the free-range. It was so lovely to see how excited they were as they went back into the hills.

Seeing the females back onto the free-range.

I wrote about Vienna in my last blog when I was up in October from my last visit. She was feeling sad and not wanting to interact with us and the other reindeer and wanted to be alone and not be in the herd. The vet was keeping an eye on her. But I am so glad to say she is much better and happier and back to her normal self now.

In the paddocks next to the new reindeer centre, a lot had changed since my last visit. Santa’s bothy with a log burner inside was up and running. There was a new fence up in the paddocks and a new stone wall plus a new big wooden reindeer with Roman’s antlers on it’s head! Very impressive.

We were getting the paddocks ready for an open day for the local businesses around the area planned for the weekend. I helped my herding friends by doing some landscaping in the paddocks with them. They brought me woodchip to spread across the bottom area of the paddocks and did lots of runs from trailer whilst I raked the new woodchip across the bottom area. I felt very proud of myself because I had never done this before. I also picked up twigs, stones and rocks from the ground and helped by building a cairn putting soil and mud into the new stone wall. The herders put some more fencing up in the paddocks and we moved things from the paddocks and tidied things away.

The new woodchip looking lovely in the paddock – fantastic job from Emm and the team.

The reindeer were back on the free range which is very exciting. They can wander anywhere with no fences holding them back. Fiona, Daisy and I went to find the reindeer to bring them down to the nearest visit spot. They were near the footpath so we called them and they jumped over a burn and came wandering over to us. It was very exciting because there was lots of snow. It was so special seeing the reindeer in the snow, seeing their adaptions working in their natural weather and environment. Some of them walked in a line stepping in the same footprints to save energy just like me, Daisy and Fiona. We gave them their breakfast. In some places the snow was knee deep and I fell in two snow holes and Daisy got the evidence on video! Even more snow was falling too.

Waltz leading the herd in the snow on a wintery morning.

A little later, with Amy and Alicia, I did another hill visit in the snow. People were in awe of the reindeer in the snow and it was so lovely to see their faces as they were so happy to see the reindeer in their natural environment. It continued to snow hard so I had ski googles just in case there was a blizzard. Alicia went to find a missing walkie talkie leaving me and Amy talking to people on the hill visit. Amy then led some of the visitors off the hill to the footpath as they were unsure where to go and I stayed with the reindeer in the snow.

Hobnob keeping Emm company in the beautiful snowy hills.

When Amy got back, we began to move the reindeer to a different spot. Amy led and called them and I herded them from the back. The reindeer were being so slow. Each time they would move and then stop. I kept going up and down herding them trying not to fall in snow holes and bogs again! The reindeer were all spread out by this time as we took them up and over a hill and then down a very steep slope. I followed by sliding down it on my bottom on the snow in my waterproof trousers, like a slide. It was great fun. When I told Amy what I did afterwards, she said “that’s what waterproof trousers are for”.

There was a burn to cross at the bottom and the reindeer jumped over it and then it was my turn. I managed to jump over it without incident then up the very steep slope on the other side, across the ski road and then up another hill. The reindeer were still being slow and some of the reindeer were trying to go to the left (the wrong way) so Alicia came as back up for me. Alicia led Christie and Ryvita on head collars with both Amy and I herding at the back like sheep dogs. Christie and Ryvita did their job leading the reindeer to the top of the next hill with Alicia and we then fed them while Alicia went to get the reindeer van.

At this stage Fiona called Amy to make sure we were ok and it had just turned 3 o’clock. We had been herding them for 2 hours and it was way past our lunchtime. Time flies when you are having fun! We went back to the Reindeer Centre and had our lunch and Amy surprised me with the star herders’ badge for doing so well. I felt very proud of myself.

Emm repping the badge given to star herders!

Stay tuned for the part 2 of Emm’s March visit, coming soon!…

Emm

22nd May 20263rd May 2026

Becoming a Reindeer Dog

Up and moving from Kent to Glenmore to live amongst the reindeer hasn’t just been a big change for me, but also for my dog, Echo. He’s certainly used to the outdoor lifestyle, having spent most of his life on hiking holidays and the last three years living in a van. But this new chapter for him has meant daily hikes, new friends, and endless adventures!

I’ve made it to the home of the reindeer!

Parking up in our camper after my first day of work, it was time for Echo to meet his new neighbours. He spent a decent hour that evening watching the reindeer through the door, desperately trying to spy antlers through the trees.

*My first glimpse of my new neighbours.*

Echo was very excited to be introduced to the official team of Reindeer Dogs, and swiftly made good friends, and found some new adventure buddies.

*Many hikes up Meall a’Bhuachaille with Fraoch*, the world’s fastest dog and must be the record holder for Meall a’Bhuachaille summits!

*Including sunrises up there before the herders head off into the hills in search of reindeer.*

*Lots of walks spent with Ginger (I always have to look my best when Ginger’s here!).*

Shortly after we arrived in Glenmore, someone else was quick to join Reindeer House… Sanna the pup. Sanna instantly took to Echo, and it was lovely to see him playing with a puppy in his older years.

*Playing with my new pal and the newest reindeer dog.*

Echo quickly fell into the routine of his new life – spending time around the Centre while I was working, and hiking in the hills in our free time.

*Getting to work straight away*! My first day on the job helping wash the Hill Trip welly’s.

Helping herder Kate put up bat boxes in the reindeers woodland paddock.

*Helping eat – I mean make – the reindeer food.*

*Exploring more of the reindeers home range.*

Echo soon got to enjoy the benefits of his new life here in the Cairngorms, including lots of lovely antlers to chew, and lots of fuss and exercise with the herders.

Posing with my best pal on a hike with herder Maisy.

Loving life in the snow with Sheena and Zoë!

*Visiting the reindeer and making sure I was on my best behaviour.*

Echo even put in a shift on Christmas Eve, keeping us herders’ company all day and meeting all our lovely visitors while getting into the Christmas spirit with antlers of his own! He even made it onto Trip Advisor – 5 stars of course.

*Christmas Eve is hard work at the Reindeer Centre.*

*Christmas Eve Crew – I even got to meet Santa!!*

As the new year began, six months into our new lives here in the Cairngorms, the biggest change arrived. I had loved seeing how healthy and happy Echo was here – especially playing with his new pals and enjoying spending time with the lovely Sanna, that I made the decision to expand our mini family. Echo was no longer the newest addition to the Reindeer Dogs…

*Snoozing with my new sister on her first day home.*

Meet Asta! It didn’t take long for her to fall in love with our home and all her new pals (Echo being the best thing since sliced bread, and Sanna a close second!). Now Echo gets to show her the ropes around the Centre – including where all the best spots for finding reindeer food to hoover up are, and where all the antlers are kept!

I’m looking forward to seeing what she thinks of the reindeer when she finally spots them from afar, and all the adventures her and Echo will have with their pals over the coming summer and beyond. The Reindeer Dogs are a very lucky bunch, and it’s so lovely for Echo and Asta to get to be apart of the gang!

Asta’s first summit of Meall a’Bhuachaille (she cheated and got to be carried most of the way!). Posing for a summit photo with all my pals Asta, Tuva, Moskki, Tiree, Sanna and Fraoch (plus the humans).

Daisy (and Echo)

6th February 202615th January 2026

Hen’s Christmas wall of shame – 2025

I thought I might start an annual blog of photos I’ve taken over the winter season, of things that are supposed to be reindeer – and aren’t. Although it turns out that being as I didn’t really go anywhere this winter, I didn’t take that many photos. Will try harder next year…

First up, shortbread. The commonest offender at Christmas I reckon, every shop has Christmassy tins of red deer, blatantly assuming they are reindeer. Or maybe just assuming that ‘deer are deer’ and they’re all the same… (arggh).

Shame on you, Tesco.

Ah, wrapping paper. Also a common offender. I’m not even sure what this (below) is supposed to be. It ain’t no reindeer, that’s for sure…

Another image I saw online that I thought warranted a mention, despite not being my own photo, was a new Banksy on a wall in Birmingham. The ‘reindeer’ (prancing Christmas affairs) are pulling a sleigh represented by a bench that is often used by homeless people; in the Guardian’s words: A Christmas cracker with a bang of reality. I like Banksy’s artwork, but ya know, would have been better if the mural showed actual reindeer…

Whilst I mostly failed miserably at remembering to take photos of the Christmas monstrosities masquerading as reindeer (quite possibly because I usually take a wide berth around the Christmas aisles in most shops), my winner this year (below) came looking for me at the Reindeer Centre, arriving in a box of stationary I’d ordered from Viking.

Eventually, having stared for too long at the vaguely fallow deer-esque antlers, still in velvet, on a head that isn’t a fallow, I realised it’s an AI picture entirely (as opposed to some bubble wrap and a ribbon being photoshopped onto an actual photo). God help us. So I’m naming and shaming you, Viking Office Supplies!

I’ll be back in a year with the Christmas 2026 edition of this blog…

Hen

30th January 202630th January 2026

Photo Blog: January 2026

As months go, January generally has a pretty bad reputation for being dark, cold, and really a bit depressing. Unless you are a reindeer herder, in which case January is likely to be one of your favourite months. Every year, from the end of the Christmas holidays to the start of the February holidays we close to the public. As much as I love taking hill trips and watching so many people spending time with the herd, after such a busy few weeks over Christmas, we all heave a sigh of relief once we can turn our signed to ‘closed’ for the month.

Despite being closed, January is still a really busy month. We spent the first few days getting all of our reindeer to the correct places to spend the winter free ranging. This year that coincided with a very snowy week, so we had lots of snowy walks and drives between Glenmore and our farm, to get everyone in the right places. We have been kept busy doing all the jobs that we just can’t do whilst we are open. Painting, cleaning, building, washing, repairing – you name it. Oh, and of course, we are still heading to the hills to feed the reindeer when we need to, we don’t feed the reindeer everyday so you will be treated to some extra dog photos this month – what’s not to love!

1st January 2026: Herders Lotti, Joe and Zoë with the lovely Winnie for the new years day feed.

1^st January: The herd and herders walking up the boardwalk for their feed.

3^rd January: The lovely Lupin with a wonderfully snowy nose!

3^rd January: A very alarmed Daisy at the state of the shop floor after a busy, snowy day.

4^th January: Daisy leading the herd for their breakfast.

4^th January: The reindeer in the trees at the end of the hill trip.

6^th January: Fiona walking some of the reindeer onto the free-range hills.

8^th January: A very snowy walk from the enclosure with the boys getting them ready to free-range.

8^th January: The boys heading up onto the hills.

8^th January: The most enormous Icicle at the farm (Kate for scale).

9th January: The very handsome Rowan was our office dog of the day!

12^th January: Sanna helping Fiona with her computer work!

12th January: Cameron coming up with creative wet-weather clothing solutions.

13^th January: Suebi leading the herd over. With the deep snow and high winds we’d not seen the reindeer for 5 days. They were delighted to see us.

13^th January: Foxtrot and Beanie saying hi!

16th January: Cameron delivering the all important tea run!

17th January: Cameron, Daisy and Hen feeding the herd on a rather dreich day.

17^th January: Helsinki and River being very lovely and Latte photobombing absolutely covered in feed! 😂

19th January: Fiona and Lotti sporting rather fetching sunhats to keep the low, afternoon sunlight out of their eyes.

19th January: As we arrived on the hill that afternoon the reindeer were looking very majestic on the skyline.

20th January :Feeding the herd on a rather dreich day.

25th January: Andi surrounded by a sea of calves!

29th January Some very impressive snow drifts on the drive up the hill.

29th January: Glacee, Pip, Suebi and Jig crossing a snowy patch.

Lotti

16th January 202613th January 2026

2025 – another wonderful year of volunteers!

Once again we had an excellent volunteer season in 2025, with a lot of familiar faces returning to spend another week with the reindeer, and also plenty of fresh new ones!

We take on volunteers for a week at a time, starting on a Monday, from roughly the start of May (start of April from 2026 onwards) when we move up to two daily guided Hill Trips, through to the end of the October holidays. In 2025 we had the Paddocks up and running once again so everything has had a more ‘normal’ feel to it, with volunteers learning the daily routine down at the Centre as we open to the public each day – lots of poo-picking and sweeping and general smartening up of the place each day! But most time is spent up on the mountainside with the main part of the reindeer herd, helping with the guided tours and chatting to all the visitors. Taking a volunteer along on one, often two, tours a day is the best way we can provide heaps of time right in amongst the reindeer – time that is something I suspect us herders can take for granted rather easily.

So, in no particular order, huge thanks to our ‘new’ volunteers in 2025 – Stephan, Victoria, Dylan, Marsaili, Ruth, Jo, Jane, Sarah, Kathy, Jamie K, Anna, Sue and Jamie C. There was also Daisy and Alicia, but it seems a bit odd now to list their names as volunteers as they’ve both come back to work for us – this time in return for money! Alicia, who lives locally, has been doing a couple of days a week, whilst Daisy (and her lovely collie dog Echo) loaded up her camper van and made the long journey north from Kent and is working full time for us. Volunteering is our favourite way of recruiting future staff, so hint, hint if you want to get your foot in the door here… Here’s a link to the excellent blog Kathy wrote for us after her visit, if you want an idea of what volunteers get up to. And here’s another blog written by Anna who amongst her volunteer duties enjoyed taking photos of the reindeer.

Kate and volunteer Alicia, who is now working with us a couple of days a week.

Daisy on the left, who after a volunteering for a week in June is working here full time.

Marsaili (in the distance!) doing an expert job herding the reindeer on a very hot July day.

For the returnees, we had Kathleen, Jayne, Sophie, Lisa, Helen, Rachel, Katie, Stephanie, Anne, Becca and Emm. Long-term followers of ours will probably know of Emm, who’s helped us out over the years multiple times, and always writes us wonderful blogs about her time here! You’ll find her most recent blog from her visit in February here – no doubt there will be another from her October visit published in the next few months.

Hen, Fiona and returning volunteer Rachel doing some harness training with the male reindeer.

Lisa has volunteered with us several times now – here she is hand feeding Magnum!

In 2025, 15 year old Maisy has turned from a volunteer to a paid member of staff, working some weekends and in the school holidays. She apparently can’t get enough reindeer time though, as she still turns up to volunteer too at times, sometimes arriving off the school bus unexpectedly! She wrote a blog with lots of lovely photos here, back in the summer. And Carol, our local volunteer from Moray, has been in on some weekends too.

All in all, another excellent year! If YOU are interested in volunteering, we start booking people in from the start of January each season, so drop us an email. Volunteer weeks start on Mondays from April to October inclusive, and are 5-7 days a time. We can only take on one person at a time though, so it’s first come, first served…

Hen

19th December 202516th December 2025

Wee calfie antlers!

With autumn being the season that the calves return to the hill enclosure, along with their mums, it’s always exciting to see them and to start to get to know them as characters. Having spent all summer with males only in the enclosure, it’s suddenly a bit overwhelming to have a sea of ‘new’ reindeer to get to know once again! The calves are the hardest to learn who is who.

Last time we saw them properly, in late spring, they were tiny and heading out to free-range in their calf coats, which are quite different in colouration to an adult reindeer’s coat. By autumn they’ve moulted, grown their new winter coat, and are many times bigger – i.e. they look COMPLETELY different! Other than very obvious colour variation and face markings, their wee antlers are the easiest way to tell them apart. The photo below shows Macchiato at 4 months old, looking about as generic as is possible for a reindeer calf – very average size and shape antlers, along with being very much the ‘normal’ body colour. Difficult to tell one from t’other, looking like this!

So I thought I’d show some of the antler shapes of calves over the years in this blog. The memorable ones tend to be the biggest ones, of which the outright winner – by a country mile – is Gandalf. However, he was born in Sweden, and many of the Swedish calves we’ve imported over the years (to increase our genetic diversity within the herd) have had very big antlers so maybe he should be disqualified my list…

But here’s a photo of Gandalf anyway. Compare those antlers to Macchiato’s in the photo above!

So… my winner for sheer height of antler is Jester, who definitely looked a bit out of proportion as a calf. He’s gone on to grow enormous adult antlers too, though tending towards wider rather than tall.

Some calves have really complex antlers – not quite as tall as Jester’s but more elaborate with several points on each. Examples include:

Murray, born in 2012. Look at that headgear!

Christie (antlers still in velvet here) – exceptional as she is female. As an adult she’s gone on to have very big antlers each year, a family trait inherited from mum Caddis and granny Haze.

Cream – these calf antlers always reminded me of water divining rods!

Duke gets a bonus point for having a forward-pointing tine at the base of one of his calf antlers – perfectly normal in an adult reindeer, but rare in a calf.

Whilst not the biggest calf antlers ever, Fez wins my ‘prettiest’ antlers award. Small and perfectly formed, with several points top and bottom. Beautiful!

But sometimes, it all goes wrong. Calf antlers, being thinner than adult antlers, are easily broken, especially as adult reindeer show no love whatsoever for anyone else’s offspring other than their own, and are all too willing to whack a calf on the head with a hoof should they get in their way. This results in antlers breaking, and this happens whilst the antler is still growing, they will sometimes fuse at the break and the calf is left with a flopped-over broken point.

One of this year’s calves, Lochi, with the classic ‘been-walloped-on-the-head-by-a-hoof’ look.

If this happens early enough in the season, the antler will, once the break is fused and healed, start to grow upright once again from the break. Here’s Fava below, who had managed to break his right hand antler not once but twice, resulting in two downward pointing bits. His antler shows a centimetre of new, upward growth from the break – and then he ran out of time to grow any more!

Antlers broken right at the base can cause a problem with obscuring vision, poor Hopscotch here had to have this disaster (above) sawn off once it had lost all feeling in the autumn, so she could see where she was going!

And sometimes, it all just goes terribly, terribly wrong…

Poor Heinz! Two broken antlers, bound in place to keep them as still as possible, waiting for the vet to arrive.

Holy Moley’s broken antler resulted in a shaved head after the vet had to remove the broken bit right at the base to prevent further damage. Some of you might remember watching her story on our Channel 4 documentary in 2020!

Hen

4th July 202511th June 2025

Antler shapes

Antlers are my ‘thing’, here at the Reindeer Centre, so it’s a natural subject to turn to for a blog when Ruth is starting to look a little twitchy about needing the rest of us to crack on and provide her with some blogs to keep her going through the calving season (no chance of having enough time to write any then!).

I thought I’d write about different antler shapes amongst female reindeer in this blog, as there is so much variation. Reindeer tend to grow the shape shaped antlers from year to year, but there are factors that influence it, such as general body condition, or whether they’ve got a calf at foot to raise – so more variation tends to be seen amongst the females from year to year than the males.

I’ll start with Marple, above, who I would say grows very much the ‘average’ style of antlers. Upright shafts with multiple tines growing backwards from them; forward-pointing tines originating from the base, and a ‘blade’ – a tine from one antler growing towards the nose. I’ve written more about Marple’s antlers in the past here. However, we also see a wide range of shapes from year to year, such as:

The ‘Bonsai’: Indigo’s antlers are very convoluted and wiggly here!

The ‘Salad tongs’: Meadow grew this incredible set of antlers as a two year old – I’m not sure what happened to them but they would have made excellent salad tongs!

The ‘Ant’: Merida’s efforts in 2024 were, quite franky, ridiculous.

The ‘Unicorn’: Multiple reindeer over the years have only produced a single antler, such as Dixie here. It’s a natural occurance that just happens sometimes.

The ‘Gate hooks’: If you’re going to grow a gate hook on your head, might as well grow two! Russia looks very strange….

The ‘Lazy antlers’: Israel couldn’t be bothered to put too much effort into her antlers this year, but all the effort went into her body instead. Look at those rolls of back fat!!!

The ‘I don’t need no antlers’. Arnish was a ‘polled’ reindeer, one who never grew antlers, but she was built like a tank so no-one messed with her at all – the lack of antlers certainly didn’t hinder her in the herd!

Read more about polled reindeer in a previous blog here, and if you’re wondering whether we ever sell antlers, you can find out here. There’s more general info about antler growth here too.

Hen

16th May 202528th April 2025

Variety is the spice of life!

We often get asked by visitors what we do when we’re not up leading the Hill Trips. Being a Scottish reindeer herder is a really varied job, and in the past year as we’ve moved into our new building it has been even more so! Here are a few photos from the past few months:

What people think we spend all our time doing – a snowy day moving the free-range herd across the mountains with Cam

How does it look?? Trying out different positions for the antler decor in our new shop

Building new welly racks! Testing my DIY skills (or lack of) to the limit…

Team effort unloading several trailers of wood chip into the new Paddock area.

A day refreshing our first aid skills, though we hope to avoid using them!

Another snowy morning moving the herd into position for the Hill Trip

Helping with landscaping in the Paddock area.

Tree planting alongside our new exhibition area.

Coffee “supervising” whilst I poop-scoop!

Finding a very old bit of cast antler on the mountain,

Building many racks for storing all of our things!

Andi

7th February 20254th September 2025

New beginnings

We are opening to the public once again on Saturday the 8th February 2025! With some BIG changes though for the 2025 season as we’ve now moved into our brand new Reindeer Centre building, having operated out of the neighbouring Reindeer House since it was built in 1960.

The brand new Centre, with Reindeer House just beyond it.

However, we think it’s really important that people understand that everything is still a work in progress and changes will continue to happen for the foreseeable future as we continue landscaping and developing, so 2025 will be a year of us working around what we currently have in place, whilst it changes constantly. But at the moment, what’s the deal?! Let me try and explain what we will have on offer at first, and how this might change throughout the coming months:

To start with, let me make it clear that – like over the last 12 months – Hill Trips to visit the reindeer up in their mountain home aren’t affected in any way and will run completely normally up on the mountains. The differences are all down in Glenmore at the Centre – thankfully the hills and the reindeer don’t change!

Over the February half-term, we will have 4 reindeer on display in our Paddock area. From the end of the half-term the Paddocks will be closed once again, opening again at the start of the Easter holidays and remaining open for the rest of the year. Just now much of the groundworks there are still to be done – we managed to get enough boardwalk completed in time to have reindeer on display at Christmas time, but there is still much to do over the course of the coming months. This includes a new Elf House (of course!), more viewing areas, another ‘bothy’ building, and a covered area for the reindeer. We will also landscape the ground within the Paddock itself to improve the aesthetics and make it more reindeer-friendly! As you can see in the photo below, there’s a lot to do from the stage we’re at just now…

The current Paddock area, with viewing platform at the right. Much more to come in the future!

As such, tickets will be initially be available on the day rather than for pre-purchase online. At times we will aim to have herders out in the Paddocks giving talks but much of the time the Paddock will be self guided, meaning our prices may vary accordingly at times.

At the moment, some of our previous display boards are up temporarily in the Paddocks for visitors to peruse.

On arrival to the Centre, visitors will now come directly into the new Centre to check in/purchase tickets, rather than Reindeer House. Our entrance ‘atrium’ is very much a work in progress still, with old signage temporarily still in use whilst new signage and displays are developed – this will all be updated gradually over the time as work is completed.

Emily has been working tirelessly on the design of the new shop, and ex-herder Olly has been spending his weekends building beautiful wooden stuff to make it look pretty! Andi and Cameron have added the finishing touches too. It’s a little smaller than our old shop so we’ll have to work out the best use of the space as we go, but right now it’s looking lovely.

The Exhibition is still being designed and we don’t have an opening date for this yet, so for the time being visitors for the Paddocks will be bypassing that area and going back out the building the way they came in. It also means we have space to work on displays behind the scenes for the time being.

Exhibition room, which in the future visitors will pass through on their way out to the Paddocks.

One thing we do have up on display already is our ‘Thank You board’ for the people who pledged for our Crowdfunder appeal last year for their name to be displayed on the wall in the new Centre…

… and the plaques are up for those who pledged for one too!

And here’s our new office! It’s been a bit of a juggling mission to get everything to fit in, but we’re just about there…

And of course, how about the car park? Last year the builders used it for their temporary cabin and machinery, and over Christmas we used it ourselves for staff. Just now we’re finishing off signage to get it ready to open to the public, and it will include a designated disabled space and (hopefully) EV chargers. Please note that it will be for customer use ONLY (you can’t park there just to walk to the beach!) during our opening hours.

Car park – signage and parking bays still to be added, along with barrier between it and the road.

In no way will the car park be big enough at busy times of year for all our visitors, but there is still parking elsewhere in Glenmore, and in a very tight space it is as big as the surroundings allow. How we wish that the Reindeer Centre and it’s associated groundworks didn’t need to be shoe-horned into such a steeply sloping area – it’s made everything so much more difficult, but we can only do our best with what we have!!!

So here’s to the year ahead. Although we were working hard behind the scenes, at times last year we felt rather like we were twiddling our thumbs waiting for the building to be signed over to us – but now it is onwards and upwards from here on!

Hen