As the rut has now come to a close and we move into winter, us reindeer herders are feeling particularly strong. For most of the year the female reindeer in our herd spend their days free-ranging the Cairngorms. However during the autumn we have all the reindeer that we want to breed from in our 1,200 acre hill enclosure. This is to ensure that we know which bulls have bred with which females and to ensure there is no inbreeding. This does however mean we have many more reindeer to feed than usual. As this is their natural habitat, when the reindeer free-roam they find all their own food and we don’t feed them at all. Whilst there is plenty of natural grazing in the hill enclosure we also give them supplementary food to make sure that the grazing replenishes each year. At the peak of the rut we were both mixing and carrying a lot of food up to the reindeer. In fact on the days when the most reindeer have been in the enclosure we are carrying 144 kg a day or a tonne a week.
Houdini and his girls
Mixing feed can be a real work out as it involves lugging around 20kg bags of various grains, measuring out the right amounts and throwing them into a cement mixer. The reindeer food is made from a mix of barley, sugar beet, sheep mix, dark grains (a by-product of whisky distilling) and hay soaked in garlic. As you can’t buy reindeer food here in Scotland, we mix up the food from lots of different things to give the reindeer the right nutrition.
Izzy mixing feed
And then once the feed is mixed, actually getting it to the reindeer is no mean feat. Normally the food is packed into roughly 15kg sacs and carried up to the reindeer enclosure on our shoulders. We have however also been asking visitors to help carry smaller bags (no more than 6kg) of reindeer food up the hill. If you have helped us carry food, thanks again from everyone here at the Centre, both two and four legged.
You certainly won’t find a reindeer herder in the gym, especially not during the rut. Mixing and carrying feed (as well as unloading the feed lorry) is a very good work out and justifies the copious amounts of cake we all eat. I also know that all the reindeer herders, especially the women, take great joy in easily flinging a large bag of reindeer food onto our backs as a visit of people look on amazed. This summer I heard a man ask my colleague Nell if she needed a big strong man to help her carry her bag, to which she responded very politely “I’m a little strong woman and I’ll be just fine”. Go Nell!
Four pop stars and an Okapi walked into a carpark…
…and no this is not the start of a bad joke but instead a phone call that we get every once in a while from Jamie, the carpark attendant on Cairngorm mountain. At the moment most of the females are in our hill enclosure either because they have calves that we are training and getting used to people, or because they have been running with a bull with the hope they will calve next spring. We do have a few reindeer though who are fully retired and we won’t breed from anymore. These reindeer are allowed to free-roam to their hearts content but seem to keep showing up in various places keeping us busy. I will introduce you to the members of the group, four of whom were born in 2006 and named after pop and rock legends and the final one who was born in 2008 when the theme was horned and antlered animals.
The Golden Oldies
Lulu
Named after the Scottish singer-songwriter, Lulu is a firm favourite amongst herders; we can definitely all shout about how much we love her. She is very tame and friendly and is the mother of LX who has inherited her greediness. For any of you who have been on the hill to meet the reindeer you may have fed LX as he is often one of the first in line for hand feeding.
Blondie
Named due to being totally white, Blondie certainly doesn’t have a heart of glass. Blondie is a leucistic reindeer, a genetic condition that causes a loss of pigmentation and also causes her to be deaf. Blondie is often the last of the reindeer in the group to come for food as she may not have heard us calling. Blondie is also very useful as unless she is in snow, she doesn’t camouflage as well as the other reindeer so she helps us spot the group.
Enya
Enya is one of the most independent reindeer in the herd; I’m sure much like her namesake the Irish singer. Recently we have barely had a day without rain but the reindeer don’t seem to mind, being very well adapted for the environment that they live in. Enya always grows a lovely set of antlers.
Santana
The final of the 4 rock and pop legends in this group is Santana named after the American rock band. Her coat is certainly as smooth as it looks in this photo of her taken last autumn. Santana is the oldest daughter of Haze, who was a strong matriarch in the herd in her day. Santana certainly is no stranger to being amongst strong women with Gazelle, Caddis and Camembert as sisters. So it’s no surprise that she has formed a clear group with these lovely older girls.
Okapi
Now last but certainly not least is Okapi, who is two years younger than the others but also retired from motherhood. If you’re not sure what the animal Okapi is named after looks like then definitely google it as they are incredibly cool looking. They live in the forest and are related to giraffes. Okapi is incredibly tame and greedy, and will follow you almost anywhere if you have a bag of feed.
These five reindeer have a collective age of 63 (old enough to get a bus pass) and have been on all sorts of adventures throughout the autumn. We originally brought them into the enclosure as a part of a larger group, the rest of which we wanted in the enclosure for the rut. We then let these guys out of the enclosure to free-range the hills which they did for a couple of weeks, before trying their hand at a bit of reindeer herding. They successfully brought two cows and calves back with them to the enclosure. Cheers girls, thanks for doing our job for us. After the reward of an easy meal we let the girls back out of the enclosure, half hoping they would continue to play the game and collect some more reindeer for us…
Working with the reindeer means spending a lot of time with them. This means we often get amazing photo opportunities, with great weather conditions or reindeer posing. This also means that we can often see their slightly less glamorous side, and tend to capture it every now and then…
Manouk
LuluDiamond’s tongueLX (Lulu’s son)Izzy discovered what a bog is during her first week of volunteering!The boys always seem keen to get in the Christmas spirit early by decorating their antlers.
A reindeer in the house!Sooty letting a youngster have a nap at the end of a hill tripKate’s picture of Fly
Which reindeer would you most/least like to go on a night out with?
Fiona = Probably Grunter again, for his same social and fun reasons. But Bovril would be my pick for ‘least like to” as he keeps himself to himself and gets all grumpy at Christmas events. I could have said the same about Paintpot to be fair. I feel like my hyper-ness would not be compatible with their grumpiness.
Emily bottle feeding Hippo and Grunter
Hen = I’ll say Puddock because I’m 36 going on 65 and Puddock strikes me as the kind of guy who would just like to stay at home and relax, which is my idea of a great night out! On Friday night we could watch gardener’s world together!! Saying that, I reckon Puddock was wild in his day, so I’d take Puddock in his older age.
Andi = I’d least like to go on a night out with the late Dragonfly because he was so unsociable. In my mind he’d have been the old man lurking in a dark corner, nursing a pint, and answering only in grunts.
Manouk = I’d definitely like to most go out with Ochil because she would keep away any unwanted intruders to my personal space. She has actually been known to kick people in their ‘personal space’. Just ask Bobby…
Chris = Kipling because she’s nice around people and good in big crowds. Unless I wanted to have a fight, then I wouldn’t take Camus with me. He seems to like walking into large crowds then batting people away with his antlers as if they chose to surround him!
Kipling is getting bored of Chris picking her for every other answer
Lotti = I think I’d want to go on a night out with Fly. I think she’d be pretty sassy and have some great dance moves on her. I also think she wouldn’t take any grief from creepy men in clubs.
Ben = Boris would be great, he’d be able to look around corners for any potential hotties/spaces in the bar queue.
Dave = *sniggers to himself*. Well, definitely not Camus, he’d be a total maniac in the pub.
Izzy = One of the boys. However, I don’t reckon I’d be able to keep up with some of the younger boys like Celt, Roman or Dr Seuss. They look like they’d drink a lot. Also, I think they’d probably enjoy their mushrooms a bit too much for me as well. Svalbard strikes me as a classic “pub go-er”. I reckon I’d have a good night in the pub with him.
Bobby = Svalbard, he’d be a good wing man.
Nell = Spike. He’s the reindeer who I’ve seen jump the most. I think it’d be quite fun going on a night out with a springy reindeer because that means more dancing.
Who’s the cheekiest/naughtiest reindeer?
Fiona = Well, there used to be a reindeer called Revel who had a habit of sticking his head under ladies skirts and then lifting them up…the skirts not the ladies.
Hen = Oh Celt!!! Surely everyone said Celt?! Celt hasn’t learnt his manners yet. His mum, Camembert, is very polite so I’m not quite sure what happened there! He’s such a wayward son.
Andi = Pagan is certainly a contender. She’s completely unabashed in coming into your personal space and demanding your full attention whether you’re busy or not.
Manouk = Dr. Seuss as I had to wrestle him in front of a whole hill trip when his hormones were the first to kick in during last year’s rut.
Chris = In my first winter it was definitely Dr. Seuss. But now…Olympic may have taken over, cheeky but not overstepping the mark.
Dr Seuss as a calf. Cheeky boy!
Lotti = Ooooo. Probably Dr. Seuss. He’s not too naughty but he’s definitely cheeky.
Ben = Ah man, there’s some definite contenders from the young boys here. But for pure naughtiness it’s gotta be Bond. He’s got little man syndrome. I’ve seen him kick young children, adults and reindeer herders. What he lacks in size, he makes up for in mischievousness.
Dave = Calves seem to be the cheekiest ay. I’ve seen calves full on try to jump and roll over their mums as if they were doing the long jump.
Izzy = Celt, he kicked my water bottle. I had to get Dave to fix it for me, before that the spout didn’t work and I had to drink out of it at such a weird angle.
Sheena = BOBBY! Oh wait what? We need to choose an actual reindeer and not a reindeer herder?
Bobby = Celt, he has absolutely no boundaries.
Nell = Bond, definitely! He’s having a time out from hill trips in the enclosure because he’s been a bit too naughty…so definitely Bond.
Which reindeer would make the best husband/wife?
Fiona = Right, well, I think if you’re going for looks then the best hubby would have been Fergus. That’s Fergus in his prime, not as a calf! I think the best wife would be Caddis, actually nah, she could be pretty brutal. Hippo was probably the most beautiful. But this all sounds so shallow thus far doesn’t it. Right, for personality and reliability it’d be Topi for hubby and Dixie for wifey. They’re the attributes that really matter! I can’t think of any reindeer that has the full package mind.
Dixie getting special treatment from Fi as usual
Hen = Probably Olympic, he’s just sooooo friendly. I can imagine that he’d definitely do his share of the washing up. The Svalbard’s and Stenoa’s of this world, you know that they’d be the ones who would just sit in front of the T.V. with a beer.
Andi = Olympic…he’s steadfast, loyal and genial. And for an added bonus, his breeding days are far behind him.
Manouk = Ryvita. She’s such a loyal mother so I think she’d be such a loyal wife.
Chris = Definitely not Kota if you were after a monogamous relationship.
Kota, August 2019
Lotti = I think that Cheese would make a good wife. I think she’s got a strong sense of family, which is very important. She’s always seen hanging around with her family so she’s obviously quite loyal. She’s also a bit cheeky and fun which would be good as a life partner.
Ben = Compatible personalities are everything in a relationship, and Lace has such great character. But she’s also so beautiful. I’d like to think that if I was a reindeer and I woke up with Lace next to me every morning I’d be pretty chuffed.
Beautiful dark coloured Lace
Dave = If I was a reindeer I would marry Fly because she’s awesome, she’s a reindeer pioneer, she’s super sexy and she has child-bearing hips.
Izzy = Olympic, he’s just so sweet. He’d give me so much attention that I wouldn’t even care about him eating ALL of the food. Tosca would be my contingency; he’s such a handsome boy.
Bobby = Bond – strong, handsome, financially stable, good moral character. He’d be the best.
Husband material?
Nell = Hamish would make the easiest husband because he’d be so easy to please. Just give him food and he’d be your number one fan. Plus, he’s quite cuddly.
Which reindeer would make the best prime minister?
Fiona = Dragonfly! But not for the reasons that prime ministers become prime ministers…he thought about everything he did & he was very intelligent. I’ve trained a lot of reindeer but he did everything with precision and thought
Hen = Yeah I think Topi would have been a good candidate, he was quite…well, everyone liked him but he was also quite forthright and offered more hope of leading without dividing the country…unlike our current government.
Andi = Hmmm, it would have to be the late Topi. He was such a likeable character but certainly no pushover.
Manouk = Bovril because he’s been through so much in his life, and I think this has made him into someone who can make adequate decisions at the right time. And by a lot…I mean castration.
Chris = Kipling – she’s a woman of the people!
Lotti = Well Boris would make the worst prime minister. But politics aside…I think Kota would be the best. He seems quite wise and respected but not so showy-offy and the problem with politics at the moment is that it’s all turning so showy-offy.
Ben = Well I think what you need is intelligence, perception and a calm demeanour and Atlantic gives you that. He’s been through some hardships in his life, losing a toe early on, but he’s learnt to live with this, making him stronger, and he’s such a calm reindeer. Calm without being a push-over, even when he was a breeding bull he was pretty level-headed. Plus some of the current world leaders may recognise his impressive antlers as a sign of manliness which could give him a head start. Saying that, I definitely think that females generally best occupy positions of power but being summer staff I don’t really know the females as well as I’d like.
Dave = Fly because she knows how to lead.in an inclusive and respectful way.
Fly on the free range
Izzy = Kipling because she’d make sure everyone had food and housing. She’s friends with everyone and she’s young, so she could run for office twice. Although, she might neglect her duties if someone put lichen down in front of her.
Bobby = Fly because she establishes a nice dominance over the herd. She’s quick to take control and seems like a really good leader.
Nell = Galilee, she’s the one that often seems to lead the herd through. She’s very….well, she’s a leader.
Which reindeer would be the best/worst reindeer herder?
Fiona = I think Olympic could make a great reindeer herder if he was human, but he definitely wouldn’t if he was still a reindeer. So he’s a bit of a loner which doesn’t quite fit the reindeer herding criteria, but he’s greedy and loves his food, which certainly does fit the reindeer herding criteria. He’s an overall good egg.
Hen = Sequin would have been an excellent reindeer herder because no one had a bad thing to say about her.
Andi = Blondie wouldn’t be the best seeing as a) she’s fairly ditsy and b) would struggle to hear where the rest of the herd are on account of her deafness.
Manouk = Dixie would make the best reindeer herder because all the reindeer already follow her, also, she LOVES her food, and that’s an important quality in a reindeer herder.
Dixie
Chris = Fly or Okapi would be the best – they’re often leading the girls when we’re with them. Plus, Okapi isn’t afraid to use her antlers if needed.
Lotti = Probably one of the Swede’s would be the worst aye. Because they’d be so terrible with a crowd. Spike’s a nervous nelly, he wouldn’t particularly thrive off of taking summer hill trips with 25 car loads of visitors.
Ben = Druid would be the worst; he’d just neglect his duties in favour of heading out ‘mushrooming’. He’d be far better placed as a café owner in Amsterdam.
Dave = Blondie would be the worst because she’s deaf.
Izzy = Inca would definitely be the worst because she’d end up running at the reindeer and completely scattering them. She just wouldn’t be good at getting reindeer from place to place, she’s too wild.
Bobby = Stuc would be the worst because he seems pretty shy and low on confidence.
Nell = Sherlock would be the worst because he kicks people and you couldn’t have a tour where the reindeer herder’s kicking people.
Which reindeer would you most/least like to be stuck on a desert island with?
Fiona = For good chats, social drinking and fun times it’d be the late Grunter, but for practically reasons it’d have to be Stenoa and/or Scrabble – the fatties. Just because they’d make great burgers. Haha, it sounds like it’d be Grunter and I eating Stenoa and Scrabble doesn’t it?
Hen = Well, I better start naming some living reindeer now…can I name a reindeer who would feed me for the longest? I probably shouldn’t should I? I’ll name Olympic for the companionship and the chats…plus, he’s not too skinny either.
Andi = I’m going to say Strudel because he’s always the first one to locate and break in to a bag of food. So, that has the benefit of him being able to help in finding the food, however I’d then have the problem of trying to get him to share. But hey, at least he’s friendly.
Manouk = Svalbard because after looking at the size of his belly, I reckon he won’t need to eat for a while.
Chris = Svalbard or Scrabble because I mean, come on…look at those bellies.
Svalbard. Photo courtesy of Jamie Isaacs Photography
Lotti = Ooo, these are great questions Ben (thanks Lotti). Well, you’d want to be stuck with someone a little bit fun who you could interact with but not be a real pain. You’d want to be with someone who’s pretty bomb-proof so that they could deal with the situation. Hmmm…Olympic, he’d make me feel happy.
Ben = It’s gotta be Olympic, he’s very social which would be great and with that wagon that he’s dragging, an Olympic sized cuddle would provide me with a lot of warmth. But I think he’d be a popular choice, so if his diary was full then I’d opt for Crowdie. He’s such a sweet reindeer, plus my Dad adopts him so it’d be a nice reminder of my great family.
Crowdie
Dave = It would have to be a tame one. You wouldn’t wanna be stuck with a flighty one who wouldn’t come near you because how’s that for company? So, maybe…Scrabble.
Izzy = I would love to get stuck on a desert island with Olympic. I’d need to make sure he didn’t eat ALL of the food but I reckon we’d have some good conversations and he’d make an awesome spooning partner.
Bobby = Ochil. I would very much not like to be stuck on a desert island with Ochil because she always seems to give me a hard time….and has no mercy when she does so. (Editor’s note: Ochil once kicked Bobby in the middle of a Hill Trip in his crown jewels…)
The extremely dangerous Ochil (to Bobby only)
Nell = I’d most like to be stuck with Hook because he runs away so often and I think it’d be great exercise chasing him around the island.
Midges…complete and utter nuisances. That’s what most people tend to say.
Well…I’ve heard quite a few individuals use more colourful language than that, but that’s the gist of most people’s views on this small flying insect that occupies the Highlands. This view is commonly expressed whilst people flap their hands around as if they’re aiming to actually launch off and flee the plague of midges.
In the bible there is reference to a plague of locust but this past week it is the midge numbers that have been of biblical proportions, causing people to look like they have moustaches and tattoos. In the five years that I’ve been reindeer herding last week was by far the worst that I’ve ever seen the midges.
During this past week I also found that the term midge can get lost in translation! We recently had a visitor who complained about being attacked by midgets. It’s amazing the difference one letter in a sentence can make!
It was during the latest inundation of midge attacks that I found myself asking: Where do these midges even live? Why are they biting us? How long do they live? Well, look no further folks…let’s rattle out some midge facts.
• Midges have a life span of around one month. Although adults are only capable of flight for a short portion of that time.
• Midges lay their eggs in wet soil, bogs, mires and the soggy surrounding landscape.
• In the U.K. there is 2-3 batches of midge eggs per year. The first batch is in May or June depending on warmth and moisture levels. A second occurs in late July or early August. And if the season is a warm one, a third batch can occur in September.
• In the U.K. alone there are more than 500 species of non-biting midges, and more than 150 species of biting midges. Most of these are found in Scotland, however they can also be found in Northern England and Northern Wales.
• Only the female midges bite. The male and female midges survive upon sugary food such as plant nectar. However, the females need a protein rich meal of fresh blood in order to mature their eggs. They get this from both birds and mammals, with the majority of blood coming from cattle, sheep and deer.
• Female midges tend to bite in close proximity to their breeding site and rarely go further than 1km away (cough, cough, Utsi bridge).
• Once they’ve found a blood source, midges emit pheromones and summon all their buddies to come on over, hence the swarming.
• They have short and sharp mandibles to pierce the skin of mammals and then they increase the blood flow via histamines in their saliva. This is what causes the wound to swell afterwards.
• Low light spurs their feeding habits so they’re most active at dawn and dusk.
• It takes a midge five minutes of feeding to become engorged.
• Mild and wet winters usually means a bigger midge season. Moreover, a very cold winter can also mean a bigger midge season. In 2010 the prolonged freezing conditions in Scotland reduced the number of natural predators such as bats and birds, meaning more midges.
• It is estimated that midges cost the Scottish tourism industry around £268 million per year in lost visits.
• On the Isle of Rum, folk lore says that as punishment for improperly burying a body, a gravedigger was stripped, tied to a post and left outside for the midges to feast on. They did kill him, eventually.
• Rumour has it that pomegranate skin, marmite, lavender and charcoal are all deterrents.
• They’re attracted to the CO2 that us animals produce. Some people are more attractive than others due to a combination of specific body odour and temperature. They are also more attracted to dark coloured clothing than light coloured clothing.
• There is a midge forecast, detailing how torrential the midge downpour is across Scotland, which can be located at https://www.smidgeup.com/midge-forecast/.
Close up of the horrible things Source: https://www.mosi-guard.com/articles/midge-bites-how-to-recognise-midges-treat-bites-and-avoid-both-altogether
So, there you have it. They say knowledge is power, but I’m not sure this knowledge will stop you being attacked by these small critters, but at least it may give you some happiness to know that you’re playing a part in a midge’s life cycle. Bah, who am I kidding? Probably not! But you may get some happiness in knowing that at least you’re not a midge.
It’s time for me to write a blog and my one-year anniversary of being an (employed that is) reindeer herder is coming up soon, so why not make that my topic?
I arrived at reindeer house July the 5th, after a long drive from Newcastle where I was released from the ferry, ready to start my life as a herder in the Cairngorms. I was immediately swept away with the fast-flowing life of reindeer house, as a few hours after my arrival we were to play a game of rounders on Hayfield. My weekend plans had also already been laid out, there would be a ceilidh on Skye after a hill race the Saturday, and everyone was going. I’d only ever volunteered as a reindeer herder, and had never done a hill race in my life, yet I’d been to one ceilidh so I kind of knew what was going on (or did I?). What followed was a summer full of running and walking around hills and mountains in rain and sunshine, long nights at the Pine Marten bar, short nights in my bed at the Reindeer Centre, nightly swims in Loch Morlich, and music gigs where we danced until our feet hurt and then we’d dance some more. I thought that within a year and a bit I might leave again, so I had best make the most of it.
Loch Morlich swims with Lotti
Fast forward to last week (Ed. back in June – it’s taken two months to upload this blog!), where I did a couple of days of reindeer herding, then drove off in a van to spend a long weekend in Arran with Chris. The main reason of our visit was participating in the furthest hill race I’ve ever run (26k, 2000+m of ascent!!) but also to discover more of Scotland. I’ve now seen a fair bit of Scotland, but the more I see, the more I find I still want to see. I’ve also had every season now in terms of reindeer herding. I saved the best for last, as calving season has just come and gone and now our summer season is just about to start again. In a year I’ve learned lots, but most importantly that one can never know what to expect from a day at the reindeer centre. I’ll briefly go over the seasons as I’ve experienced them the past year.
Summer
Full on, both in terms of reindeer herding and life at reindeer house. At some points there were 7 people living at reindeer house, excluding visiting friends and family for whom there’s always a bed to crash at the centre. On top of that, on frequent occasions there were guests at parties that filled up the house and left it again, like the tides of a sea coming and going. This meant there was constantly a high level of energy in the house, and so were the people living and working in and around it. There were 3 hill trips a day, most of which were quite full. So basically, a standard day looked like this: wake up, get breakfast and a big big coffee. Then either go up the hill first thing, or do the paddocks and/or emails down at the centre. Then take a fairly large group of visitors up the hill to show them the reindeer, work a bit in the shop and the office, shut the centre at 5pm. After work we’d go for a run, eat together with everyone who lived at the centre at the moment and their guests, and this would often then end with a night at the Pinemarten bar for “just one drink” (which often somehow ended up being a bit more than that).
The first of many reindeer selfies
Autumn
There’s no clear boundary between Summer and Autumn, but at one point most of the seasonal staff has unfortunately left, and there’s an eerie kind of quietness that takes over in Reindeer house. All of the sudden some nights no-one took the initiative to go for a run, swim, or visit to the pub. And the nights I sat still I noticed a bit of a tiredness, like a giant hangover from the lack of sleep and excess of activities and drinks over summer. Autumn we took things a little bit slower, there weren’t as many hill trips and visitors anymore, the centre had quietened down and so had the house. It was also time for my first hill race ever, which was absolutely great. The days started getting shorter and the head torches came out for the runs at night..
October = sleigh training
Winter
And then it was winter. First wet and windy, later on a bit colder and snowy, but never as cold as I’d expected it from the stories of the years before. Reindeer house exchanged the running shoes for ski-touring boots and skis, and instead of walking or running up and down mountains we’d “skin” up and ski down, whenever there was snow. The first months of winter were crazy busy again, because of our Christmas events and weekends of Christmas fun. We’d either be at the centre, carrying out Christmas fun duties or regular herding tasks (including lots and lots of adopts), or we were going all over the country in teams, with big lorries for Christmas parades, staying overnight at our farm bases. When Christmas was over, another sort of peace and quiet came over reindeer house, different from the one after summer. I’d thoroughly enjoyed the events, but shutting the centre for a couple of weeks in January allowed us time to work less and enjoy the Scottish winter. We were also able to catch up on all sorts of tasks that had been dropped in the Christmas craziness. Days were very short and this meant energy levels a lot lower, so lots of excuses for going to bed early!
Spring
Eventually the long nights got shorter, bit by bit. Our female reindeer started showing signs of pregnancy. It was still very quiet at the centre, with the odd school holiday in between. Every time I went down South for a hill race or a trip of a different nature, it was clear that Spring was on its way, but in the subarctic climate of the Cairngorms we had to wait quite a while. Even once spring signs had clearly presented themselves we had a bit of snow every now and then. The last month of Spring was also the best month of my “career” as a reindeer herder so far – calving time is amazing. I’d be willing to drop everything at once if I’d get a shot at walking around the enclosure to find a wee ball of fluff next to its mum somewhere tucked away in a corner. The changing weather and daylight hours gave lots of extra energy, either spend chasing calves and mums or training for or participating in my first proper season of hill racing. What a joy to live in the hills, with such great animals and nature around!
Calving season – Addax with her calf TexelSpecial moments
And so my first year as a reindeer herder was complete. Summer staff came to move back into reindeer house, and the centre started getting busier. Tufts of hair were flying around: the reindeer were moulting their winter coats and the circle would start all over again.
Some people answer to just one name, others like me have a proper name and a nickname. Although given the name Elizabeth as a baby, I was nicknamed Tiddly because I was the youngest ( and so smallest ) in our family of four children.
Tiddly got shortened to either Tids or Tilly and now many 10’s of years on from being Tiddly I am almost universally known as Tilly, although I do sometimes use my ‘real’ name Elizabeth when I want to sound ‘official’.
Having two names has worked to my advantage. Many years ago, when I was still organising all the Christmas Events with our reindeer ( thankfully our daughter Fiona does all that now ) I received a phone call from one of our clients regarding their event. After our conversation I said to the Centre Manager, ‘ I am going away for a couple of weeks and so if you have any other queries it may be best to wait till I get back’. To which the lady replied ‘ that’s no problem if you are not available, I will just ask for Tilly!’ I didn’t let on, but was amused that in this Centre Manager’s eyes there was a Tilly and an Elizabeth!
Tilly, in action. Photo credit: John Paul
Tilly was not a common name when I was a child but in recent years I have met quite a few young Tillys! I am not someone who keeps up with changing fashions, indeed my mother used to despair of me always wearing jeans and never putting on makeup! But it would seem that I was ahead of the game when it came to my nickname!
As well as other people being called Tilly I have known of various animals with my name. Years ago I was driving up the Ski road from Aviemore back to Reindeer House and there was a chap with his ‘3 legged black labrador’ trying to hitch a lift. Feeling sorry for the dog I drew up and jumped out to let the dog jump in the back. The chap said ‘ jump in Tilly ‘ which rather took me aback before I realised he was talking to his dog!
In the mid 1980’s we became acquainted with a farmer and his wife from Keilder in Northumberland who ran a small open farm. We became best friends and over the years they both looked after reindeer for us at their farm and helped out with our reindeer events at Christmas time. John was a great stockman and could turn his hand to all types of livestock. He acquired some fallow deer and when the doe had her fawn, she wouldn’t raise it and so John and Shirley hand reared the little mite. The wee fallow became incredibly tame and was a winner with all their visitors. I was well chuffed when they announced they had called her, yup you guessed ——-‘Tilly’.
A few of the Wild Farm fallow deer
Not only do we name all our reindeer, but we also name our pedigreed Belted Galloway cattle that live on our farm at Glenlivet. When we name our reindeer calves we choose a theme for that year. Last year it was TV/film detectives, before that poets and authors, ancient civilisations etc etc. But with the cattle we go through the alphabet and in 2018 the letter was T. So strangely enough one of our heifers ( young cows ) is called Balcorrach Tilly.
Some of Tilly’s Belted Galloways, but not Belted Galloway Tilly…
And then today we received an email from a lady in the USA who had recently bought a copy of my latest book Reindeer, An Arctic Life. It transpires that she has a reindeer farm and this is what she wrote in her email:
‘Your book just arrived today and I am only one chapter in, but I already know I absolutely LOVE it. We would be honored to feature this book in our gift shop at our reindeer farm———– Already planning to name our next calf Tilly.’
So there we go. I don’t think I ever imagined that I would have namesakes that were as diverse as a 3 legged dog, a fallow deer, a Belted Galloway cow and potentially a reindeer. What an honour. And to cap it all, very close friends had a little girl 2.5 years ago and not only did they ask me to be her Godmother but they also named her Tilly!
Within a herd of 150 reindeer there are favourites, bold ones, greedy ones and unusual ones that we all talk about and you will hear about, however, 150 is a lot of reindeer and I am sure there are a few out there that you haven’t heard of so much so here is a blog to introduce them. These reindeer are no less friendly but with others being such bold characters they tend to take a back step, out of the lime light.
Santana was born in 2016, the year we named them after artists and bands and she is a lovely little female. She comes from a very well-known family. Her mother was Haze and sisters Gazelle, Caddis and Camembert. Her brother Fyrish who was one of our main breeding bulls last year. She definitely isn’t as bold as her siblings though. For many years she kept herself to herself, however over the more recent years I have definitely grown a soft spot for Santana and she has clocked onto the extra feeding for the older reindeer in the herd. A specific story I remember was during the calving season a few years back and Santana calved that morning. I went down to bring her into our area where other cows had their calves and as I approached her I was expecting to push her towards the open gates as I hadn’t worked with her much in the past and I just expected her to be a bit more timid, especially having just calved. So as I got closer and closer to her, she seemed pretty settled, even a bit interested in what I was doing or maybe just the bag of food I had with me. Then before I knew it I had my arm around her neck popping a halter on. She didn’t bat an eye lid and followed in in with her new bundle of joy hot on her heels!
Santana
I started with a female reindeer so here is one of our male Christmas reindeer now, Bingo. Bingo is fairly aloof and I wouldn’t call him timid because he has taken part in some of our busiest events and been an absolute star, but he’s not one for a fuss and when it comes to catching him he can be quite canny. He tends to slink around in the background, not join in with hand feeding and definitely keeps us fit when he decides otherwise when bringing the herd into the shed. His mother Jade, I would say was one of the more timid females, however other members of his family have been some of the tamest and greediest reindeer in the herd over the years but keeping us on our toes obviously floats his boat!
Bingo
Roule, a 6 year old breeding female over the years has given us the run around… all I can say is thank goodness she is a female and we don’t have to work with her too much. Considering her mother, Rusa was probably one of the greediest females in our herd, back in the day, Roule was the polar opposite and it wasn’t due to her not getting enough handling as a calf… that she got, but It’s just her nature I guess. Brother Atlantic used to be quite head strong but in his older years has mellowed and other brother Hamish is just a massive softy so it just proves that genetics have a huge amount to play when it comes to each individual reindeer and their character. Luckily her latest calf Frost hasn’t followed in his mothers footprints and he is actually a lovely wee chap. Bodes well for his future as one of our Christmas reindeer.
Roule
As a calf, Scolty was quite hard work and never really got any tamer. As a result of being a bit more timid we made sure he got lots of handling as a calf and yearling to make the process of becoming a Christmas reindeer better from the age of three onwards. And then he proved us all wrong! Last October we trained him to harness and he went out on Christmas tour visiting various towns across the country spreading the Christmas joy. He was an absolute star! He took everything in his stride and by the end of the tour he was as well trained, if not better, than some of the reindeer who had been doing it for years. I had him out myself and he was an absolute pleasure to work with, and on some occasions was so chilled out in the pen he fell fast asleep.
Scolty
That’s a few more reindeer you may, or may not, have known so well but hopefully I have done them justice in a wee write up. There are lots of reindeer in the herd who all deserve a mention but their time will come.
Recently I got a new phone which made me look back through all my old photos before deciding which ones to keep. Rather than give you some of my best photos from a year and a half of reindeer herding I thought I’d give you some of the ‘worst’ from my first season of Christmas events.
Manouk and I were sent off to Stonehaven for our first event together for a display pen event. Much of the time was spent playing with the inquisitive young Kips who was also on his first eventas a Christmas Reindeer.On that same event in Stonehaven we were faced by a recurring problem. Every time we walked in or out of the display pen then we had to negotiate all the tasty plants of the garden centre. On one occasion Pratchett was too quick for us and helped himself to the tasty heather!Back at the Centre we had forgotten how to run the shop so had to ask Tiree to help us out/Mel and I had Marple and Scully along with us one weekend and they both discovered their own reflection in a window. Scully, a relatively shy and polite young girl was inquisitive but nervous with her reflection. Marple however, is not shy or gentle so decided to attack her own reflection. Hence the blurry photo of me realising what she was about to do and trying to stop her in time!There was a regular occurrence that weekend with Marple and Mel. Every time we pulled up in the lorry at an event, fuel station or overnight base: Marple would have her nose poking out the side of the lorry trying to see what was going on. Mel would then reward Marple with a tasty bit of lichen .Overall, Marple and Scully were well behaved on their first Christmas events despite not always having the best example set by the older boys. One evening Mel and I went to check on the boys before putting them to bed and we found that Monopoly had decided he wanted to wear Santa’s sack which was drying out on the fence. Incidentally Mel has been doing Chrsitmas events for 10 years and the event we did in Larkhall was the wettest she had ever done!Olly on a quad bikeIs a blog really a blog without a photo of Dr Seuss?Any time we were away on tour it was always nice to come home to our ridiculous hounds. Sookie, in the background, is never happier than being curled up in a pile of blankets/jumpers that aren’t hers.
