Winter - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

17th July 202617th July 2026

Taking the Funicular to find the reindeer

A free range season adventure!

Daisy: It was morning briefing in mid April and we were contacted to inform us the reindeer had moved right up onto the mountain plateau not too far from Ptarmigan Station. This was going to be a pretty long walk for us to make it up to the reindeer, find them in some pretty interesting conditions, and then herd them down off the mountains to one of our free range visit spots. Thankfully, Cairngorm Mountain staff came to the rescue!

Andi: A quick phone call to Cairngorm Mountain and they were happy to help us with a ride up on the shiny Funicular Railway – a unique scenic ride which is a destination in itself. For us, this would save us around an hour of uphill walking in blizzard conditions, and made the difference between needing to abandon our Hill Trip plans (with lots of hopeful visitors already booked) and hopefully managing to retrieve our reindeer in time for everyone to enjoy meeting them.

Thank you so much to the Cairngorm Mountain staff who let us hitch a ride on the Funicular to the top of the mountain!

Daisy: It certainly felt like setting off on an expedition that morning with Andi. We had all our gear on, map and compass in our bags alongside lots of reindeer food, and jumped on the mountain railway. A really cool way to start off a herding trip for the day! I actually had never riden the train up the mountain before so we grabbed a front spot and watched the snow get deeper and the visibility worse.

Andi: Travelling from Glenmore, where it felt like spring, to the ski car park, where it was cold and wintry with a little snow, it felt like we were going to a different world as the train took us into the cloud and the weather closed in. Definitely a day where knowing that you have a storm shelter in the bag is reassuring!

Daisy: As soon as we stepped out of Ptarmigan, we were hit by a pleasant enough breeze carrying some of the snow down the mountain. I pulled my microspikes onto my boots and my ski goggles over my eyes, and followed Andi along a snow fence and up away from the restaurant and Cairngorm summit. A few patches of deeper snow to stumble through, and a lot of frozen ground and sheets of ice that made for nice walking with the spikes on. We crossed past the final lift before the plateau and set off into a frozen, snowy, rocky landscape with little to no visibility. It’s funny to think how many people wander the plateau and hike these beautiful mountains throughout the year, because in that moment it was like we were the first people to explore what felt like a different planet.

Andi: Whilst I’m pretty familiar with our local mountains, having pottered around after reindeer for the past 15 years, it is a whole different ball-game in a blizzard. Visibility was between 10 and 30 metres, and it is so easy to see how people get completely disorientated. It takes a lesson in trust to believe the compass bearing when your brain can play tricks on you, making you think you’re heading in the opposite direction.

All smiles navigating to the reindeer in white out conditions on the Cairngorm Plateau.

Daisy: We used a combination of a good old trusty compass and Google Maps to navigate through the white out. Despite the freezing temperatures and snow that was blowing up off the ground, we were actually nice and toasty in very excited high spirits the entire time. Looking at the satellite imagery on Google Maps of roughly where we knew they were, I made up names for all the features I couldn’t see in front of me, and was probably really reassuring to Andi when I kept repeating “the reindeer should be at the bottom of the orange segment just in front of us”.

Andi: Between Daisy using the tech to pinpoint where the reindeer should be, and me keeping us on a compass bearing with the old-school methods, it felt like we had a plan! It was reassuring having two brains on it, keeping each other right and cross-referencing to ensure we were on track. Most of our reindeer herding is not done in a white-out, so it was a fun challenge to be testing out our nav skills.

We found the herd! (Trust us, they are in the photo…)

Daisy: We came to a stop and scanned the landscape, the reindeer should have been metres from us at that point. Then like magic, some cloud lifted and Andi pointed off into the distance: “Reindeer!”. There they were, 73 reindeer hunkering down on a hill edge. Several cheers followed as we dug our spikes in to descend a small ice sheet to get to them.

Andi: I was glad to have a fair bit of experience picking out a herd of reindeer on a hillside, as their camo was excellent, but something in the shape/shade of these particular bumps ticked the box of not just being rocks! It felt like such a prize to have managed to follow our bearings directly to them.

Daisy: It was my first time seeing how effective a reindeer’s coat is against heavy snow and winds and it was amazing to see the snow piling up against them. As I got nearer and walked around the back of the herd to encourage them up, I could see just how cold it must have got overnight with all the frozen snow and ice on them – not bothering them at all!

Andi: It amuses me how reindeer are so blase about weather, actively choosing to wander up to exposed ridges in the worst of conditions. There is actually method in their madness, as wind will blow snow off the ridgeline, meaning they have to dig less for food, and there is also less risk of getting stuck in a snow drift. But still!

Thanks to the hollow guard hairs that make up the outer layer of a reindeer’s coat, the snow doesn’t melt on them. This keeps them warm on mornings like this, lying in the snow at -4.

Daisy: With the herd up and already eager to follow Andi, we set off into the white to move the reindeer off the mountains and down to much lower ground. It wasn’t long before the winds started to pick up and throw quite a bit of snow at us. The herd stuck together really well and I got my first experience of how they stay together in low visibility. Usually they spread themselves out a fair bit when on the move, some will stop to graze and take their time – but in the harsh windy conditions and terrible visibility they were staying close as a herd the entire time.

Andi: The herd were in a very co-operative mood and as I set off in the right direction, shaking a bag of food, they all trotted after me. I tried to set a pace where the herd were close enough to me that I could still see Daisy, who was following at the back. It felt sensible to be able to keep an eye on each other!

The winds started to pick up as we got lower, here you can see gusts of snow blowing up from the ground and gusting into the herd.

Daisy: I’m glad that it was actually probably the easiest herding I’ve ever done, the reindeer wanting to get off the windy plateau as fast as we did. It gave me plenty of time for photos and to take in how amazing the experience was. Plus I was able to focus on my own struggles in the wind – like making sure I didn’t get blown over every 30 seconds!

Andi: As the wind buffeted us, humans and reindeer alike, I had to stop myself from feeling guilty that the reindeer were in these conditions, reminding myself that they had chosen to come up this high themselves!

Daisy was pushing the reindeer from the back, watching them disappear into the snowy winds ahead.

As Daisy watched them disappear, Andi watched them steadily appear following her to lower ground.

Daisy: I was so grateful to be at the back! Apart from making sure I kept up with the herd, (which did involve the occasional sprint whenever they ran on ahead to regroup around Andi – slightly stressful as I’m much slower than a reindeer!) I at least didn’t have to worry about navigating. Andi had to lead 73 reindeer and one herder down off the mountains following just compass bearings!… I did not envy that task at all.

Andi: When fetching the herd, we generally take turns at either leading or pushing. Today Daisy had volunteered me to lead, as I knew the hills better than her so there was some theory that I would pick a good route. In reality, I’ve found it’s a case of heading in roughly the right direction, glancing back at which way the savvy reindeer are going, and repositioning yourself to be in front of them, which makes it look like you knew exactly what you were doing… The reality is that the reindeer spend their whole lives in these mountains and know them far better than any human. Once you have the herd on side, the job of leading becomes much more straightforward, though it is the first time I have brought reindeer in whilst using a compass!

The visibility continued to get worse, but thankfully Winnie (seen in the middle here) kept Daisy company at the back the whole way and made sure she didn’t get left behind!

Andi leading the herd solely using compass bearings!!

Daisy: The further we got and the lower we started to descend, the higher the wind speed increased and the snow began to feel like needles being fired at us. I quickly lost any feeling in my face, and loved watching how the reindeer turned themselves into the wind, the cows with their calves sheltered alongside them. While I struggled to stay balanced on my feet and really starting to feel the cold bite – the reindeer were in their element! Sticking together as a herd and following the hoof prints of the reindeer in front of them.

Andi: Whilst the reindeer made it all look easy, the conditions were not so easy for us humans. As we began descending we encountered more deep banks of snow, which resulted in a couple of complete face plants for me! The look of confusion from the reindeer at how useless us two-legged-creatures are was pretty funny!

Andi’s view of the reindeer fighting against the wind gusts as we dropped off the plateau. The wind speed was gusting up to 72mph during our herding mission!

Daisy: We had finally made it low enough that the cloud cover began to lift and I could see all the recognisable land marks to suggest we had nearly made it! We had one last push over a steep bit of rocky ground that proved quite difficult to navigate in the high winds and deep snow – at this point I had stopped bothering with my count of how many times I’d fallen over in suprise patches of knee deep snow. The reindeer were even bracing the final harsh whips of wind for some lichen grazing! The last stretch to the visit spot they picked up pace downhill towards Andi and I watched as they swapped to a very wide gait in the way they were running. It looked pretty comical – their legs so far out to the sides as if they were going to skid on their bellies at any moment, but worked perfectly. Their hooves hardly made a dent in the snow and they kicked through patches of powder at speed. I did attempt my own version to see how effective it would be for a person, and even tried to keep my boots in their hoof prints. You guessed it… I built up a lot of speed before hitting the snow hard and my arms disappearing in front of me. Thankfully only Winnie saw, who gratefully had kept me company the entire walk. I won’t be trying to run like a reindeer again anytime soon!

Andi: By the time we reached our ‘visit spot’, we were low enough to drop down out of the cloud, the skies were clear and there was only a smattering of snow on the ground. We fished out the reindeer feed from our backpacks and the calves tucked in – we give them a brief preferential feed through the winter. The adults know the drill and waited patiently, then we popped out a line of feed for everyone. A quick headcount – everyone was present and correct.

Andi couldn’t get the bag of feed open quick enough for the hungry calves after the long journey. Look at the difference in the weather at a couple of hundred metres lower altitude.

Boogie helping Daisy get frozen spikes from her hiking boots.

Daisy: We had done it! Thanks to Andi’s amazing navigation, we had successfully led the herd of 73 reindeer from the mountain plateau down just in time for the days Hill Trip! We fed the hungry reindeer and checked we had everyone and they were all looking happy and healthy and then had a moments breather to chat about how amazing the experience had been. I can confidently say, that herding adventure was the best experience I’ve ever had! Being in such harsh conditions with the wind, the snow, the lack of visibility – it felt like being on a different planet. Experencing the kind of conditions the reindeer are built, not only to endure, but to happily live in felt like such a privilege. Stumbling and running after them at points to keep up, gave me even more respect for how incredible animals’ adaptations are to their home environment, and how much of a privilege it is to experience nature at its best!

Andi: Many visitors assume that being a reindeer herder means you’re incredibly fit and spend all of your time running round the mountains. The reality is that a lot of our job is actually based in the office, shop, and working with visitors. Yes, we do get to roam around on the mountains too, but the weather is not usually quite so gnarly! We had so much fun testing our skills and experiencing the extremes that the reindeer are so at home in, and were buzzing for the rest of the day! It really felt like we’d voyaged to a different planet…

Mission accomplished! Now time for a cup of tea…

Daisy and Andi

19th June 202612th June 2026

Reindeer Metabolism and How it Changes Throughout the Year

The bodies of reindeer go through many changes allowing them to cope with huge temperature difference throughout the seasons. In summer reindeer can cope with temperatures above 30 degrees and the lowest recorded temperature that reindeer have been know to survive is -72 degrees Celsius. Reindeer have two different coats, a thick white winter coat as well as a fine, dark summer coat. Their antlers grow in an annual cycle and the different times of growing and shedding them allows different animals to be dominant at different times of year. One of the most interesting, and important, changes to a reindeer though, you can’t see – their metabolism.

Colorado, Iskrem, Yangtze looking smart in their summer coats.

Reindeer have adapted to eat vast amounts of food throughout the spring, summer and autumn to gain enough weight to survive the winter, when food is scarce. To cope with these changes in food availability their metabolism changes too. In the summer reindeer will graze around the clock, eating a huge variety (between 200 and 300 different species) of plants which are high in nutrition. This allows each individual to grow a new set of antlers, they start to grow in the spring and are fully grown by the end of august and the heaviest set we have had in our herd, weighed a whopping 8.9 kgs. The summer is also the time that the young reindeer grow in body size. Finally, every reindeer will need to gain body fat which will act as reserves over the winter. All these things require their digestive system to work in overdrive converting the food they are eating into energy that can be used by their body to create protein, bone, fat, and whatever is needed.

Ryvita grazing and growing her beautiful antlers.

Cow and calf grazing on the high plateau plants.

On the contrary, winter is all about survival. During the winter most of the plants will have died under the snow and 70% of a reindeer’s diet is made up of lichen. Lichen is a symbiosis of fungi and algae and is very resistant to extreme changes in temperature. Over the winter lichen won’t grow but it will stay dormant, preserved under the snow. Reindeer will then dig down through the snow to reach the lichen. But lichen is relatively low in nutrients, just enough to sustain the reindeer through the winter and their metabolism shifts in line with this. In fact, even if you gave a reindeer a big pile of food, during the winter, they just aren’t as hungry and wouldn’t eat it all.

During the winter reindeer are no longer growing their antlers, they won’t increase their body size at all, a calf will grow lots in the first 6 months of their life and then stay the same size for the next 5 months, until the following spring. They will survive the winter by using their fat reserves. The one important growth that does happen in winter is that of a growing foetus. This is the reason that the females grow antlers and keep them after the males have shed them, as it gives them a physical advantage during the time that they are pregnant and therefore they get first dibs on the food.

*Vienna and Amazon showing off their beautiful antlers right through the winter.*

A group of our males in the winter having cast their antlers.

But how does a reindeer know that it’s time for spring? Rather than responding to food availability or temperature which may well change year by year, the changes in their metabolism are triggered by the changes in daylight. The increased daylight associated with spring is detected by specialised receptor cells in their eyes which then convert to a hormonal signal using melatonin. Melatonin is synthesised during the dark period each day and then synthesis stops during daylight. This means that the amount of melatonin varies based on the time of year. The concentration of melatonin has many effects. In terms of metabolism, in the spring as melatonin decreases, this increases the appetite of the reindeer. In the autumn, as melatonin increases, this decreases the appetite of the reindeer and increases the breakdown of fat stores. The changing melatonin levels also controls their antler growth and release of sex-hormones but that may be another blog in the future.

For anyone particularly interested in a much more in-depth description of the physiology behind these changes, I would highly recommend reading this article.

https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/download/335/327/1280

Glacee, Salsa and the herd enjoying a snowy day!

If you have made it this far, thanks for reading my very nerdy reindeer biology blog! Hopefully you have learnt something and enjoyed the pictures of the reindeer along the way.

Lotti

15th May 202620th May 2026

Free – range season of 2026 comes to an end…

Since the first week of January, our wonderful herd of reindeer have been out free – ranging the mountains. Our females and smaller male calves from last Spring roamed the hills here in the Cairngorms, while our males, bigger male calves and their mums free roamed the hills not too far from our farm. Free – range season is a chance for all our reindeer to enjoy the good grazing and open plains of the sub-arctic tundra we find ourselves in here, and to grab a well earned rest after our busy Christmas season.

Free – ranging season provides the most stunning views of the reindeer with the backdrop of the beautiful Cairngorm mountains.

It’s also a fantastic time of year for us herders, getting to move the reindeer around the hills every morning, and take guests out to see them in their natural habitat with no fences. So, as free – range season draws to a close for 2026, it’s time to look back on our herders favorite moments.

Can you spot the herder amongst the herd?…

Lotti

Looking back over the last few months, one morning fetching the reindeer immediately sprung to mind as a highlight. To set the scene, the previous day, Andi and I had fetched the reindeer for the morning visit, and both agreed that the reindeer had been slower and more difficult to herd than either of us had EVER seen! Fast forward to the following day, I was feeling tired and whilst the morning walk out to find the reindeer is usually my favourite job, after the day before I was quite happy to do a hill trip instead. But alas, it was not meant to be. As it turned out Daisy was the only herder with enough beans to volunteer to walk out to find the reindeer. At this time of year it takes two of us, one at the front and one at the back, so reluctantly I joined her.

Poor Daisy had to cope with a distinct lack of enthusiasm from me on the walk out which finished with an uphill, off path trudge through the snow. When we reached the top of the hill though, we were greeted with the most wonderful sight, the herd on a snowy hillside with the beautiful mountains of the Cairngorm’s behind them. I have lived and worked here for a wee while, but a view like this still has the ability to take my breath away – I hope that never changes.

Of course, on that day the reindeer were good as gold, and we had the most wonderful time walking them in. I often find that the days when I’m feeling less joie de vivre than usual are the days that the reindeer and the mountains really show off and have the ability to completely change my mood. I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face for the rest of the day!

Orinoco leading the herd across the snowy hillside.

Amy

My favorite day from this winter free range was collecting the reindeer at the start of March. Myself and Hen had walked out to where the reindeer where and it was decided that I would be the person that would walk infront of the reindeer and lure them to the visit spot, whilst Hen would stay at the back of the herd and make sure that we didn’t leave any stragglers behind. At the front I could see that lovely Vienna was very determinedly trudging up the hill behind me, along with the sweetheart that is Ryvita, plus Christie and Cheer had taken a small group of reindeer on a questionable detour into a snowy crevice and Bordeaux was walking off very purposefully in the completely wrong direction. Given Bordeaux’s nature, it is very unusual for her to decide that she isn’t going to follow the herd, so I sat back for a brief second to see how things were going to play out and Bordeaux continued in the direction she was heading- away from myself.

Eventually, I rustled the white bag of hand-feed I was carrying to see if I could catch her attention and then it became evident that Bordeaux was confused about what direction I was going in. You could quite literally see in her face the moment she realised where I was and that I wasn’t in the direction she was expecting. I also loved the urgency she had when she walked off in the wrong direction, there was so much hope that just over the skyline she would be able to snack on some yummy handfood.

Whilst we were waiting for Bordeaux, Vienna is trying to persuade me to give up some hand feed.

Hen

My memory links directly to Amy’s, as I trailed along at the back of the herd keeping them moving in the right direction, like a sheepdog. Unfortunately my short stumpy legs cannot go uphill nearly as fast as a reindeer – or downhill, to be honest – so this role is often somewhat unneccessary when they are moving well as I’m struggling to keep up and can’t do much about stopping them going in the wrong direction anyway. On this particular day the herd had been quite hard work already, really preferring to stay put grazing, but once they were finally moving I clocked Bordeaux heading off in the wrong direction, leading multiple other reindeer with her. We were crossing a really rocky bit of ground and Amy was partway down the hill the other side already, and I remember yelling something rude at Bordeaux… Perhaps she realised at that point she was going the wrong way, or perhaps she’s well-versed in my swearing, but a minute or two later she appeared back in sight, now heading the right way…

I’m not sure this is necessarily my favourite memory, but it’s the one springing to mind right now, and the morning is one I actually have a photo from (although involving the random dog-leg of Bordeaux’s route).

Andi

My highlight of this year’s free-range season was fetching the herd from high on the mountain in a white-out, and having to use a compass bearing to navigate our way down out of the cloud – the first time in my 15 years of herding that I’ve had to rely on a compass whilst leading the herd! You will find out more about that experience in a few months time… keep following the blog!

The cows battling the high winds and snow gusts, protecting their calves in the harsh conditions.

Daisy

One of my most memorable moments from my first free-range season has to be the wild weather Saturday of moving reindeer in a blizzard! The day had started with hardly any clouds and blue skies when I first dropped Cam and Sheena off to move the reindeer that morning. But, by the time Andi, Emm and I set off for the Hill Trip, a white out blizzard had struck. I only managed to locate Cam and Sheena thanks to their bright waterproofs! As I waited for Andi, Emm and the Hill Trip guests enough snow had settled against my ski googles that I could hardly see past Juniper stood next to me. The snow was quite short lived though and the guests had the most amazing blue skies and calm breeze with a fresh layer of snow settled on the reindeer for their trip. The hills looked amazing!

After the guests had gone we had the task of moving the reindeer across flats, jump a burn, over the road, and up onto a new set of hills. We set off as the mornings blizzard returned and the winds picked up! It was my second go of leading the reindeer, and seemed quite daunting given the lack of visibility. But the combination of Andi’s hand signals from the back of the herd and Ryvita leading the charge and following my calls, meant we successfully crossed the burn and got them up onto the road. With a cluster of cars parked up in the middle of the road, everyone hanging out their windows to record the reindeer – the entire female herd of 73 steadily came into view as they ran across the road and up onto the bank of the next hill in a quick single file. I never get over how fantastic it is to see the reindeer rush over the road, and how excited all of the passing drivers are, but with the snow falling and having just herded them through a blizzard – it was pure magic. From there it was up onto the flat of the next hill and to give the reindeer some well deserved food, and then back to the centre for a hot cup of tea (and several custard creams)!

Chilling with Ryvita before the blizzard returned.

Maisy

My favourite moment in this winter free range was when Cam and I went out to fetch reindeer for the morning visit at the start of April. It was a stunner of a day with most of the snow gone which was meant to make it easy walking, however Cam decided to take us through deap heather and across a large river from the snow melt. Thank god I had my big wellies on! We headed along then up to where we thought the reindeer were. We arrived for where we last spied the herd, but they were nowhere to be seen. We had lost our 73 reindeer! I thought they had gone back the way we came, but Cam said that they probably carried on round the side of the hill. I suggested for us to split up to cover more area, so off we went in oposite directions with our walkie talkies turned on. All I could hear as I was walking back round the direction we came from was silence from Cams end. I was thinking about heading back and looking else where until I saw them! I was right. Cam was wrong… The reindeer had gone the way we wanted them to. Cam made us walk straight past them! Once Cam evantually caught me up with the reindeer (he took ages), I lead the herd up towards the visit spot (this was actually my first time leading reindeer on the free range!). Some were more enthusiastic than others to follow. We made it to the spot and awaited for Daisy’s arrival in the sun (which took longer than expected as she also got lost… what can you do?).

Can you spot Cam miles in the distance?…

Cameron

Erm… That’s not how I remember it!

Editor’s Note: This is all we could get out of Cam for his offical response.

Fiona

Being an old timer when it comes to reindeer herding I often end up leading the herd in for their morning feed rather than being the sheep dog at the back to keep them moving. This year we had a few newbies herders join our team and this was their first winter fetching reindeer so I took this on board and mostly lead the herd, even though everyone’s favourite job is at the back. At the back you just get to hang out, at a sensible pace and you don’t have to choose the route so when given the choice this is where most herders would want to be. Mid March I went out with Amy (another old timer) and this time I didn’t give her the choice, I opted for following along at the back. It was a glorious day, blue skies, sunshine and snow… Just perfect! I spent most of the time taking videos and photo’s and sending them to everyone I knew working an office job that day boasting about my morning. It’s days like this that make you forget about the wet, windy and claggy days that end up being a total mission and therefore restoring your faith in Scottish winters!

Kate

Free-range season is a real mix. The weather can be truly awful, and on days the reindeer are feeling stubborn, moving them can be a long and difficult slog. But sometimes, you get a bluebird day when the sun is out and the reindeer are hungry and cooperative, and these are some of my favourite mornings throughout the whole year. Me and ‘The Aisies’ (that’s Daisy and Maisy) headed out on a lovely blue-sky day in March to move the herd. We wouldn’t be returning by the same path, so Cam kindly dropped the morning feed at our destination (thanks, Cam!). We could see him from a distance, making his way to drop the bag. “He looks like a tick!” Daisy said. I then had to explain to her how perspective works and that things look smaller at a distance… Walking out without a heavy bag always nice. We found the herd at the crest of the hill, a few were up and picking through the snow to graze, but most were dozing in the sunshine. They were initially slow to get going, and split into two groups which can make things difficult, but having three herders is a luxury and made it much easier to keep the herd moving in the right direction. I led, the Aisies herded at the back, and we skirted around the slopes easily enough, until we hit some big snow patches and the reindeer started to pick up speed. Eventually, Emmental decided she knew exactly where we were going and passed us. The herd followed, and most of them rushed over the snow to gather ahead, where the feed was waiting. I waited for Daisy and Maisy to catch up and we enjoyed having the last few minutes of the walk to just enjoy the sunshine and chat.

A lot of our most memorable days on the free-range are the big adventures, when it’s difficult, and you feel exhausted but accomplished at the end of it, but I always love the calm mornings, when things are easy, the sun is out, and you have enough time to stop for a moment and appreciate the reindeer and the incredible place we live.

Emmental and her son, Oro, leading the herd, 7th March 2026

Sheena

I think we all love heading out to look for reindeer in the morning when they are free ranging on the high slopes of Cairngorm. My most memorable walk out this year was with Cameron, just at the end of winter start of spring. Our biggest challenge was what to wear. The weather was sunny one minute and then full on winter blizzard… So a full set of winter waterproofs, gloves, hats, hoods and last minute went back for ski goggles! We had a long walk and luckily we spotted them just before the weather changed into a white out snow storm. Goggles on time.

We had several challenging stream crossings, the first one had a big snow drift over it and was very dodgy spring soft snow, so we went for a crossing area up stream, with a good helping hand from Cameron when I jumped over, so no wet boots for me. After locating the reindeer Cameron lead the way as our plan was to move the reindeer to an area easier for our visitors on the hill trip, it took 30 mins in white out condition. Just as we got near our Hill Trip spot, we saw a hill walker on the hill path who unfortunately had a very noisey dog and, two barks later the reindeer turned on their hoofs and headed back up the hill! Luckily the sun came out, blue sky and we caught up with the herd not too much higher and changed our visit location as the weather was now sunny. It was now a safe option for our visitors. Cameron and I had a good work out and I wish I had a step counter that day – it would have been miles.

You may have caught the wonderful video of Sheena and our lovely Holy Moley post blizzard hike! If not you can watch it on our facebook page here.

Alicia

March has been my first taste of the free-range season, and thus has been host to many small ‘firsts’ for me! First time leading free-range Hill Trips, first time seeing the girls out in the mountains (leading them off the road in December doesn’t count!), first time out with radios trying to bring the girls to a nice spot for the Hill Trip in the mornings…

My favourite memory from this season was also my most trying morning. Fiona and I hiked out in the morning, braving blue skies but 30+ mph winds (which is quite a lot when you’re carrying a lot of reindeer feed on your back!). The cows and calves were happily resting in a little gully when we came upon them, and they were very much not in the mood for moving on! I was the ‘sheep-dog’ at the back of the herd trying to encourage some rather stubborn lassies on from the nice patches of lichen they had found, all the while unsuccessfully dodging boggy sections of ground. After finding a safe way to cross the river, I gave a quick celebratory ‘Yes!’, before promptly falling into a bog on my next step…

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Hope you enjoyed all our favourite moments from 2026, and here’s to free – range season 2027!

The Cairngorm Reindeer Herders

10th April 20267th April 2026

Reindeer Around the World: The Svalbard Reindeer

Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus

A wonderful past blog written by herder Hen detailing how the species Rangifer tarandus (more commonly known as reindeer) is broken down into seven different subspecies, got me thinking that I didn’t know too much about these differences. What adaptations did each subspecies have to equip them for their differing environments? I decided to start my research with the Svalbard reindeer – the smallest of all the reindeer and only found within the islands of Svalbard.

It is estimated that Svalbard reindeer became isolated from other populations of reindeer around 10,000 years ago when the vast ice sheet covering the Barents Sea melted as the earth warmed after the last ice age. Svalbard then became cut off from mainland Europe, effectively trapping any land mammals.

So, what happened to them 10,000 years ago to equip them with living on an open, isolated, arctic tundra landscape? Unlike other subspecies of reindeer, the Svalbard population dropped its need to migrate, only needing to cover short distances on a regular basis, remaining on mountain ridges and plateaus – continuously exposed to the elements. They also lacked forests for cover and fed primarily on short-growing lichens and vegetation.

The home of the Svalbard reindeer – open plains and Arctic mountains.

Apart from the occasional polar bear… the Svalbard reindeer also doesn’t have the worries that other subspecies have regarding predators. Due to these changes in their food chain and environment, the Svalbard reindeer evolved to have far shorter legs than the other subspecies. They could still reach a maximum speed of 60 to 80km/h but didn’t require the longer legs of other reindeer – so to conserve body heat, their legs became shorter.

*Body heat is lost through a reindeer’s legs due to less fat and blood vessels near to the surface of the skin, so if you don’t need to migrate – grow shorter legs and stay warm!*

Svalbard reindeer running, perfectly displaying how disproportionate their bodies are to their small heads and legs. Perfectly adapted to an environment that doesn’t require movement, but encourages good fat reserves. (Photo credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen)

Another unique adaptation to the Svalbard reindeer is their difference in circadian rhythm to other subspecies of reindeer. Svalbard has an extremely reduced day length in winter months. There are between 100 to 150 days per year during which there is no light and the sun does not rise above the horizon. Research has concluded that the Svalbard reindeer has a mutation in a gene associated with maintaining circadian rhythm, allowing their bodies to cope with lack of sunlight (vitamin D etc.). Another change in the genetic make up of this subspecies in comparison to the others, is a change in the genes associated with eye/ optic nerve development – allowing their eyes to adapt to winter conditions.

Svalbard reindeer have dark eyes, that like other subspecies are able to see into the shorter end of the light spectrum. This allows them to use UV light during twilight periods of the year to see their general surroundings – identifying food sources, other forms of life, etc.

Their diet is very similar to other subspecies of reindeer, feeding on low growing vegetation found along ridges, plateaus and mountain slopes. Feeding to excess on healthy vegetation during summer and then relying on fat reserves and limited grazing during winter when vegetation is limited, but lichen can be found in abundance. The Svalbard population is more of a solitary subspecies than the typical social herd structure of other populations of reindeer. They are often only found in groups of three to five and so over grazing is not as much of a concern in a smaller region, such as Svalbard. However, despite this, starvation is the most common cause of death due to worn teeth grazing on sparse vegetation growing amongst rocky landscapes, or from food frozen into ice pastures.

*Svalbard reindeer grazing on vegetation with areas of ice pasture seen behind them.*

Pick out the areas of low quality grazing amongst the rocks.

Despite their challenges and differences, one thing is for sure… the Svalbard reindeer are one darn cute animal!

*Trying to think of something professional to say here, but all I can think is… STOP IT!*

Okay, no more cute photos! I’ll leave it there until next time when we look at the cool adaptions of another subspecies of the Rangifer tarandus.

Daisy

More reading:
https://polar-latitudes.com/discover/wildlife/svalbard-reindeer/
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-eurasian-arctic-during-the-last-ice-age
https://www.aurora-expeditions.com/eu/wildlife/arctic/mammals/svalbard-reindeer
https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/17/9/evaf160/8233719
https://npolar.no/en/species/svalbard-reindeer/#3

3rd April 202616th February 2026

A Reindeer Christmas

A Christmas Eve tradition of my family is to go see the reindeer parade in Kingussie. When I was younger I often got to go on the sleigh, of course to my delight. Last year Fiona surprised me and I got the chance to pull the front of the sleigh with Akubra and Poirot. This year I had a feeling it would happen again and it did! However, Fiona did give me a warning in the lorry this time. She is known to surprise you…

Maisy with Poirot and Akubra at the 2024 Christmas Eve parade in Kingussie.

As a Christmas present to my family this year, I decided to take them up the hill to see the reindeer. The Centre is closed on Christmas Day but the reindeer in the enclosure still need to get their feed for the day. Fiona said if no one else said they’d do it; I could with my family. After a bit of persuading they agreed, and I took a couple from my family and a few friends up the hill. You can’t get a better Christmas than that! All photos here are taken by either myself, my dad or my brother.

When we got to the enclosure, we had all the reindeer on Cairngorm waiting for us. The girls who were on the free-range were asking for a wee bit of extra food too. We picked up the food for the reindeer in the enclosure and headed up the hill. It was a frosty morning and cold, but it was so beautiful. The sun even came out for a while which was lovely. We were all wrapped up but of course the reindeer were very well insulated with their winter coats. We usually feed the reindeer in the hill enclosure a couple of times a day depending on what time of the year but since we were only feeding them once we had a lot of food to take. Thankfully the team on Christmas Eve took it all up to the bins on the hill so we didn’t have to carry it all the way up.

My cousin Magnus leading the reindeer up the hill.

We wandered around the hill introducing the reindeer and answering questions all about how awesome they are. We also had our friends Lorriane and Massa too and they were just amazed. It’s so nice to show people that you know where you spend a lot of your time and where you just love to be. I’m sadly coming up to my exams so I will be cherishing my time with reindeer, Christmas definitely wrapped it up so nicely.

We then headed over to see the free ranging reindeer and I hadn’t seen any of those guys in such a long time, so it was so nice to see them. I was rusty at identifying them, so I had to get my trusty back up plan of a photo from the board in the office which keeps track of the whole herd.

The free ranging girls, left to right Nuii, Pumpkin, Brew, Alba, Camomile.

The girls on the free range haven’t had a chance of hand feeding for quite a while due to them being on the free range for the past year or so. Some exceptions for a couple of the breeding females. They can sometimes be quite wild and excited when they haven’t been around people for a wee while. I turned around to swap bags with my mum as I had an empty sack and she had a full bag of hand feed. As I turned, I saw my mum standing there whimpering. Ryvita, a 14-year-old female with no antlers, had her nose right up against her bag. I hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time. Sadly, no one was quick enough to get a photo or video of the moment of her being scared out of her mind.

Latte being a yearling is now getting to enjoy free ranging on the mountains.

For my Dad’s Christmas present, (which he didn’t know at the time as I’m a very last-minute person who left it too late,) was an adoption of Vanilla. You can find out what you get if you were to adopt a reindeer here. We’ve been in the hills together quite a few times and when we’ve come across a few reindeer, she’s usually always there. She’s such a beautiful girl and every time he always gets a good photo of her, so I thought they’d be a good match.

Vanilla posing on Christmas Day beautifully.

Sadly, not everyone was able to make it on the 25th so I promised to take them up another time. That just happened to be on the 3rd of January. I took my brother and his girlfriend up the hill on a very snowy day. It feels like magic when you’re with the reindeer in the snow, kicking the snow up to get the lichen and deer grass, or them walking in the snow easily while all the humans are falling in streams and falling down snowholes. Although in typical Maisy fashion, I faceplanted off the boardwalk in front of a whole group of visitors.

99 and Cowboy begging Maisy to give them more hand feed.

I sadly had not learnt my lesson and buried my hand feed bag underneath the snow because the reindeer kept pestering me when holding it. I’m not saying any names, but it wasn’t Dr Suess, Cowboy and Tub. I then had a hard time trying to get their big noses out of the bag within all the snow, if you know anything about trying to get a Christmas reindeer nose out of a white bag it’s hard considering their brain is controlled by their stomachs. Which is the same with me, I’ll be honest.

Holy Moley enjoying the winter which has finally arrived.

The reindeer look magnificent in the snow when it all just sits on their nose, and of course it doesn’t melt because they are so well insulated that they don’t let the heat out to melt the snow. However, all the humans do not look magnificent and are bumbling around in the snow trying not to fall in a snow-covered burn. Unfortunately, yes, three of us did fall in the same burn at the same time.

They couldn’t get rid of me that quickly. As the next day I came back up to Glenmore the to go up a Meall a’ Bhuachaille with Sanna and Echo the dogs. The best hill in Scotland and some of the best snow I have ever seen up there. So much fun although, so much more energy goes into walking in deep snow especially at some points I was sinking above my hips and the dogs kept vanishing under all the powder.

Sanna and Echo between her ears near the summit of Meall a’ Bhuachaille.

Maisy

27th February 202627th February 2026

Photo Blog: February 2026

February is the month that we ease ourselves back into Hill Trips again after being closed for a month. From mid-January to mid-February, we are trying to catch up with general maintenance and into February prepare for being open to the public again. The start of the month consisted of feeding reindeer, ensuring we are prepared for opening and we also spared some time to visit one of the Lynx reintroductions drop in’s that have been happening in the area.

The 7^th of February was our first day open to the public. It is always a bit of a daunting thought, and you’re left hoping that you remember how to talk about reindeer and that you have hopefully remembered everything that needs done first thing in the morning. But these anxious thoughts were soon squashed by our first Hill Trip of the season, the weather was good and how to be a public facing reindeer herder came flooding back!

The weather at this time of the year can be challenging and trying to take a picture that encompasses how brutal the weather is on a hill trip is hard. Daisy and I did a Hill Trip on the 11^th, and the conditions were rather wintery. The met office report for the day told us that the max wind gust at Base Station was to be 26 MPH, our Hill Trip that day was lower than Base Station and the wind was enough to knock you off balance, so I feel it may have been a little stronger than that! I do love the variation that we get in weather as it makes the good weather days feel special.

4th of February: Left to Right- Suebi, Orinocco, Bolero, Ceilidh and Glacée on a very blustery trip out to feed the herd before we begin Hill Trips again.

5th of February: Ruth and Lotti enjoying biscuits whilst completing their Lynx questionaires.

7th of February: Myself, Kate and Maisy with Ryvita after the first Hill Trip of the new season.

8th of February: Trilby leading the herd in for our morning Hill Trip with Disco on her left, Tango and then Pip.

11th of February: On the walk out to the reindeer myself and Cameron noticed some unusual prints in the snow… Possibly Badger prints?

11th of February: Cameron teaching his merry band of calves bad habits

11th of February: Above is Beautiful Solero. This was the first day of good weather we had seen in a while, so plenty of pictures were taken!

15th of February: Another mission to collect the reindeer before our 11 am Hill Trip. In the fore ground (left-right) we have Dante, Disco and Bolero.

18th of February: The first day of the season where we had to cancel the Hill Trip due to the weather. Sanna, Fraoch and myself agree that it was the best call!

19th of February: Daisy clinging on for her life on a very windy walk out to collect the reindeer in the morning.

22nd of February: Vienna, often found snooping around us herders looking for extra food.

25th of February: Polka leading the herd in before our Hill Trip.

Amy

20th February 202616th February 2026

Photo Blog: Reindeer in the snow

Breaking trail and the herd following in my footsteps. Holy Moley right behind me.

Breaking trail and the herd following in my footsteps.

Colder temperatures bringing them lower towards the tree line.

Counting reindeer as they walk towards me.

Feeding free rangers during the first snowfall.

Fuzzy noses keeping them warm while they snuffle into the snow for low growing vegetation and feed from us herders.

Winnie demonstrating how their thick coats allow the snow to settle, so well insulated it doesn’t melt.

Daisy

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

26th December 202523rd December 2025

Photo Blog: December 2025

The last photo blog of the year! I’ve actually been rather rubbish at taking photos this month as it’s just been so busy (and rather dark with the shortest days of the year) but here’s a wee look at some of the pics I’ve taken on my phone over the past few weeks.

Christmas events went well with teams making us all very proud. Hill Trips have been mostly sold old for weeks (well done if you got tickets) and Christmas Fun was mostly sold out too – it’s been great to see so many people enjoying the brand-new Exhibition and folks getting to meet Santa! Meanwhile up on the hill the reindeer have all been well and unaware of the slight frazzled state of the herders down at the Centre.

Enjoy the photos and Merry Christmas! A big thank you to all who have read the blog over the last 12 months.

4th of December: Brie is having a wonderful end to 2025 free ranging in the hills.

4th of December: Another reindeer from the ‘Cheese’ year! Feta is also having a wonderful time out free ranging. She’s grown a cracking set of antlers this year.

5th of December: Ceilidh coming over to see if there is any spare food for her.

9th of December: Tub on a very soggy day.

10th of December: Moving the free ranging herd – easiest way to get them to where we wanted was just to walk up the road! Old girl Ryvita leading the way.

13th of December: The ‘Christmas Fun’ team for the day – Sherlock, Stenoa, Bond, Charleston and Quickstep.

14th of December: Leading a team of reindeer off the hill ready for their event at Landmark – Lupin and Magnum at the front.

15th of December: These boys have all been superstars on Christmas events this season – Jester, Busby and Dr Seuss.

16th of December: Disco and her beautiful mum Dante.

16th of December: Marple and her son Mosh. He’s such a cheeky wee thing!

19th of December: The herd coming in for their breakfast.

23rd of December: Salsa lying down after a Hill Trip.

Ruth