Category: Seasonal

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Newsletter chaos!

Having been here for a long time, the logistics of sending out the bi-annual newsletter that is posted to all our reindeer adopters has, almost by default, become Andi and I’s domain. The two newsletters are sent out in June and October, so for the 6 weeks or so beforehand I spend my time in a bit of a flap, trying to coordinate everything at the same time as doing all the other, day-to-day work (I would say ‘we’ spend our time in a flap, but realistically, it’s probably just me. I’m not known for calmness under pressure. Andi is much more unflappable than I am).

Work on the June newsletter is very much intermittent in May, as May is the calving season for the reindeer and we are usually rushed off our feet, so by the first half of June I am tearing my hair out over it. It needs to be out in the post to all 1800(ish) adopters by around the 20th June, so I am liable to getting a little bit frantic at times! Once upon a time we used to handwrite some additional information about each person’s adopted reindeer that was sent out with the newsletter, but those days are long since passed as our number of adopters has grown significantly over the last 15 years or so. Nowadays, for the June edition, we type a section of bumff about each reindeer, count how many need printed for each individual, and print them on 1/3 A4 sized slips. Much easier. Except that actually it takes ages to write them in the first place as almost every single one of the ~150 reindeer in the herd have adopters – years ago I wrote the entire lot myself, ran a word count and the overall total was longer than my university thesis had been! (I’m confident I know more about reindeer than limpets these days though…) In recent years I’ve managed to palm this job off on Andi, who does the bulk, with myself, Lotti and Ruth taking occasional turns.

The October 2022 newsletter photo, of Morse and his girls earlier in the month (though I did miscalculate and we ran out of these photos towards the end so a few of you will have received a different picture…)

The October newsletter goes out with a photo of the herd instead of individual info about each reindeer, with some more general info about how the year is going printed on the reverse. September is a hugely busy month for us too, with the start of the rut, vaccinations and free-ranging reindeer all over the place generally getting in the way, along with calves to halter train and handle for the first time. We just don’t have time to write 150 blurbs anymore, so a photo of the herd is the next best thing. God knows how we ever hand-wrote anything for the newsletter in the past – madness!

Many, many adoption forms to work through… The 18th Year + folder now goes up to 32nd year!

One day I guess we may get to the point of sending out newsletters digitally, but I, for one, hope those days are far in the future. Everyone prefers getting actual physical post, don’t they? I certainly do. It also means we don’t discriminate between folks who do/don’t use the internet. Our rather idiosyncratic system of working our way through the folders of adoption forms one by one, and cross-referencing the details on the form with the address label that has been printed is time consuming, but does pick up any mistakes that we have made when entering details on to the database. Labels print alphabetically by surname, within each adoption year, and one person’s job is to find the relevant label whilst the other reads out the details on the form. No problem for the long-standing adopters, where there are only a few in each year, but by the time we get down to the folks in their 1st year of adoption that person is on their feet the whole time, dancing back and forth up and down around 900 names. It’s quite a tiring job, mentally in particular!

After actually packing up the newsletters comes the job of franking all the envelopes!

Nothing pleases me quite as much as carting all our boxes of completed newsletters off for the postie to collect – job done for another few months. It’s a good feeling! I can go back to my normal level of flustered confusion finally rather the super-charged fluster I exist in during May and September of each year.

Finally ready to post! And taller than me…

Hen

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Finding Dante’s calf

Being the most recent person to start working at the Reindeer Centre I am experiencing the day-to-day workings of the Centre throughout the seasons for the first time. I thought I would write about one of my favourite “firsts” to date, which is finding the first calf to be born for the 2022 season. It was a beautiful day at the tail end of April, which happened to be my first day back at work after my usual two days off and Andi’s first day back at work after a holiday. We started our usual morning routine and set off from the house to head up to the enclosure to check on our pregnant cows and feed them, upon feeding the cows we realised that one reindeer was missing, so we grabbed our calving bag which includes: feed for the mother, spot on and antibiotic blue spray for the calf’s naval and made a start on searching the enclosure. For anyone that hasn’t been to our enclosure it is a vast amount of space to search, the perimeter line is 8km in length alone! The missing reindeer was the lovely, four year old, Dante.

We headed along the top ridge of the enclosure to check a well-known calving area up there, but the missing reindeer was nowhere to be seen so we continued climbing to the summit of Silver Mount in search of Dante. Keeping with the theme of many “first” experiences, this was also my first time being on and seeing the summit of Silver Mount, which has glorious views of the Northern Corries, Loch Morlich and down onto Glenmore. Luckily for us, Dante was also at the summit of Silver Mount.

Looking down the top ridge towards Black Loch and Coire Cas in the distance.
The view from Silver Mount looking across our enclosure towards the Pass of Ryvoan.

With the easy part over we had to try and see whether Dante had calved or not and for the untrained eye this was a lot harder than it sounds. We could see that the reindeer was focusing on a specific ginger looking spot, but was this a new-born calf or a rock? A question that all herders ask themselves on a regular basis when looking for full grown reindeer, never mind a tiny calf! We were lucky though and the ginger mound began to move which confirmed that we had officially found the first calf of the season! Andi headed over to feed the mother, treat the naval of the calf and give spot on to give it protection from those dreaded ticks. Once we had checked that all was ok we headed back down to reindeer house to share the amazing news that our calving season had begun!

Dante and calf looking epic with the snowy Northen Corries behind.
Close up of Dante’s calf – the blue colour on her navel is the antibiotic spray.

At the end of May Dante and her one month old calf headed out to the hills for the summer, along with around half of our other mums and calves. We caught up with them a few times whist they roamed freely in the hills, both mum and daughter seemed to have a great summer as they were always in excellent condition. The pair are now back in our hill enclosure for the autumn where we’ll begin to train Dante’s calf to wear a halter and get to know her personality. Hopefully she’ll grow up to be a big strong girl like her mum, and big sister Mangetout.

A big moment when the first batch of cows and calves are let out of the enclosure to free range for the summer.
Dante’s calf enjoying the tasty lichen whilst out free ranging at the end of August – 4 months old to the day!

Amy

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Christmas 2022

I know you will look at the title of this blog and think… What?!?! Christmas is ages away. However, this isn’t about Christmas itself, more about our tour and what we will be doing this year with regards to Christmas events across the country.

Over the past 33 years we have covered the length and breadth of Great Britain and Northern Ireland visiting various town and shopping centres as well as garden centres, schools, hospitals, care homes… the list goes on. When it comes to Christmas everyone loves seeing our reindeer, and our trained Christmas reindeer are an honour to work with. Their naturally friendly nature and ability to remain unfazed in most situations makes us feel so proud of them. Of course extensive desensitising training has taken place over many years to prepare them for these moments, but nonetheless they make us feel so proud of them.

Harness training in July 2022 – desensitising begins early for our reindeer.
Sleigh training in the autumn – getting ready for tour! Scolty and Frost at the front.

Times are changing and our business changes with it. Once upon a time the income from Christmas events was a crucial part of the year to help maintain the reindeer herd in the Highlands of Scotland for the rest of the year. Like every business we have bills to pay. Whether it’s paying the lease for the land the reindeer roam or staff wages, naturally there are plenty of outgoings, and Christmas events helped to support this. However, The Reindeer Centre itself here in the heart of the Highlands has really grown into itself and with a great team of herders with many visitors to the area to entertain we are becoming much more self sufficient here at home. As a result we have re-evaluated how much ‘Christmas’ we actually need to do.

Santa even comes to visit the Reindeer Centre on weekends in December!
The Paddocks and Exhibition are often very busy on the run up to the big day!

Some of our longest standing events are in the far south. Basingstoke, Windsor, Llanelli, Carmarthen, Cowbridge and Usk to name a few. Some of these events have been going ahead for over 25 years. They are fantastic events and always well organised with the organisers and public giving our reindeer the up most respect. For some of the people visiting these events when they were children 25 years ago are now attending with their own children so it really is lovely to see and be part of. With COVID making the last two years tricky for everybody whether it be budgets being cut or just the fact that event organisers didn’t want to be attracting big crowds of people for public safety meant that some of these events didn’t go ahead. Naturally there was huge disappointment, but everybody understood. Off the back of less demand to travel further south we have taken this opportunity to look at our own business and where we are going and have now decided that we won’t be taking part in events south of Manchester. Obviously I feel terrible for the fantastic events that these venues have put on over the years but with such good relationships with them all I have explained our situation and they have all replied and completely understand our situation. They have thanked us and our lovely reindeer for being part of their Christmas festivities and wished us well going forward. We couldn’t have asked for nicer comments from them all.

Volunteer Paul and herder Mel with a team of 6 reindeer in Wilmslow – November 2021.
Slioch and Dr Seuss at the front of the sleigh in Bradford – November 2021.

So going forward we are still doing Christmas events but we will be sticking to Scotland and the north of England. We will run less teams as a result and concentrate much more of what we do at home. We hope you can visit us either here in the Cairngorms or while we are out on tour in November and December but for now I just want to say a massive thank you to all of our events based further south than Manchester for all your support over the years. We will miss working with you and we wish you all the best going forward.

Reindeer walking off the hill – ready for a weekend of parades and events. Frost and Bond at the front.
Christmas lorry hitting the road!

Fiona

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All Change!

June and July are the months when our reindeer have to complete a full moult from their incredibly thick winter coats to their short, sleek summer coats. They don’t quite look at their most glam at this stage (though obviously they’re always beautiful!) but there can be some entertaining looks going on, which we thought you might all appreciate!

2-year-olds Legume and Arta with just a bit of shaggy winter coat on their backs
Beastie is always one of the first reindeer to be (nearly) into full summer coat
Wee Sunny is in his “calf” coat, which will moult to an adult coat over the next few weeks.
Cannellini is one of the last to get moulting, with just a bit lost on his face.
Poirot’s dark colouring is showing through with only a little winter coat still to lose.
Yearling Cowboy still looking glam despite his questionable coat choice!
The reindeer do groom off loose hair – here’s Olmec with the evidence!
Akubra working at his moulting…
Strudel with a beard of groomed-off winter coat.
Dr Seuss has moulted out all of his lower coat and hardly anything off his back… here he is tapping his antlers to stimulate the growth.
Frost looking incredibly scruffy… but it’ll not be long until he’s handsome again!

Andi

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It’s going to be a Sunny summer!

On the whole, calving season back in May went really well with between 25-30 calves born. There were a few, new, young mums in the group but also some of our older girls who have been there, done that when it comes to calving. At the end of May / beginning of June the whole lot went out onto the summer free range where that’ll be them now for the next few months hopefully getting the best of the summer grazing on the Cairngorms.

Some of the cows and calves heading out of the enclosure for the summer months.
The best start in life for our new additions is out on in the hills with their mums.

One calf who didn’t join them is Sunny. He was born on Friday 20th May and his mother was Rain. At 5-6 days old unfortunately we lost Rain. We suspect there was an internal infection, from calving, which she hid from us and as a result she passed away. This rarely happens but in this case we were left holding the baby! He came straight down here to our Centre where we could start the hand rearing process. We knew there was no other option at this stage and we have hand reared lots of reindeer calves in the past so were confident that although we wouldn’t do as good a job as Rain would have we would manage nonetheless.

Sunny’s first day adjusting to life at Reindeer House.

It’s been a good few weeks now and Sunny has become part of the Reindeer house family of humans, dogs and now baby reindeer! He joins us for dog walks, where we know it’ll be quiet and we won’t bump into other walkers with their dogs, he makes himself at home on our kitchen floor on the odd occasion when he comes into the house. His favourite spot is beside the washing machine. In fact he is so comfortable in ours and the dogs presence that he’s the ultimate ‘lazy boy’ and he pees while he is lying down! Needless to say we’re all quite used to mopping up after him now. It’s a good job we have an easy to clean floor and aren’t fazed by a bit of pee and poo!

Fast asleep by the washing machine – his favouite spot within Reindeer House.
He quickly made friends with herders and dogs. Our dogs are very good with him, and basically completely ignore him.
The two youngest members of our household – Sunny and Fraoch.
One of Sunny’s first walks with us.
Joining herders on a post-work walk. Good exercise for Sunny, and an opportunity to find nutritious grazing.
Sunny enjoying a paddle… he even went for a swim, calmly following us herders in as we went for a dip!

Every morning he gets in our reindeer van and joins the herders and dogs for the walk over to our enclosure. Getting some tasty grazing along the way it’s also very good exercise and socialising for him as he comes in with the main herd. The first time we took him up the reindeer on the hill acted like they had no idea what he was… Is he a dog?!?! They sniffed him and with sudden movements Sunny made they darted off, tail in the air worried he’d do them harm. Little did they know he was just a very young version of them. They are now accustomed to him and he mixes in just fine.

Sunny in the van on his way up to the enclosure for his morning exercise.
Sunny enjoying some tasty grazing on his daily walk to the enclosure.
Start ’em young! Sunny assisting Andi with harness training.
Stephanie, one of our volunteers, giving Sunny a bottle of milk.
Nom, nom, nom.
Sunny now spends his afternoons and evenings in with Paddock reindeer. Here we have Beastie, Druid, Jonne and Haricot keeping him company.
He still comes into the house most evenings, he may have grown a lot in the month we’ve been looking after him, but his favourite location in the house hasn’t changed.

So here you have it, Sunny our hand reared calf of 2022. We named him Sunny as his mother was called Rain and his brother is called Jimmy so for the Scottish folk out there you’ll know the saying ‘Sonny Jim’! We’ve just tweaked the spelling. I cannot predict the weather this summer but I know for sure that we will have a Sunny summer!

Bring on a Sunny summer!

Fiona

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Calving Bets

Each year, as calving season looms, we reindeer herders have a sweep stake. We place our bets on which reindeer will calve first. Or rather more importantly, try to bet upon which reindeer won’t calve last.

I say ‘bet’…what I really mean is we try to combine luck and science to each predict a reindeer. The herder whose reindeer gives birth last then has to do a punishment. The punishment was historically swim in Loch Morlich. However, this task became obsolete as a punishment a few years ago when it became apparent that most herders regularly braved the cold waters as a leisure activity.

Andi, Lotti, Ruth, Fiona and dogs after a post-work dip in Loch Morlich.

So, the current ‘punishment’ is to bake a cake for the calf naming evening in September. It is on this evening in September that we pick a theme and subsequent names for the recently born reindeer. It’s hungry work, so cake is always greatly appreciated. In fact, in 2009 the cakes were so appreciated that we had a whole naming theme dedicated to ‘cakes, puddings and biscuits’.

Olly lost the calving bet last year (alongside Andi so he was in excellent company) so produced this cake in the shape of a newborn calf!

We’re in the last week of April as I write this blog and it’s a stage in the year where some of the pregnant females are MASSIVE. We’ll be expecting the first calf in the coming days and each of us will keep a keen eye on who calves throughout the month. I mentioned science as a prediction method in my first paragraph. Some herders like to research when a reindeer stripped the velvet on their antlers in the previous year, some herders like to look at if the reindeer are already growing their new antlers, and some herders like to inspect how big a reindeer’s udder is, all as a sign of their readiness to calve. If a reindeer strips their velvet early it can be an indicator that they come into season earlier. If a reindeer is already growing their new antlers it can be a sign that they are using more of their nutrients for themselves and not sharing them with a foetus.

Christie stripping the velvet on the 15th of September 2021 – what does that mean for her calving date?!
Don’t think Brie is very impressed by the udder check!
Being the “sheepdog” at the back of the reindeer herd in April can be the perfect time to compare how wide bellies are growing!

This makes it all sound very technical actually. I think most of us just tend to pick one of our favourite reindeer. It’s more fun that way in my opinion. Sometimes it’s fun to take a risk as well. Add to the drama. However, herders have been known in the past to make a risky prediction and the reindeer to not be pregnant at all. Just fat!

In May 2021, Andi picked Camembert, but sadly for Andi (great for us – the cake was delicious!) she was just fat, not pregnant! This is Camembert being put out to free-range for the summer on June 21st after no calf appeared, still trying to get more food from Lisette!
Lotti picked one of her favourite reindeer Gloriana (R) for the past two years, she didn’t let her down in 2021 when Beanie (L) was born. But what will she do this year?!

Some reindeer are so dependable to calve first that they’re off-bounds. Christie was first last year. And it was Pagan the year before that who always seems to be there or thereabouts. This year Tilly has chosen Ladybird who looks rotund. Ladybird, that is. I’ve chosen first time calver (I hope), Texel. My baking skills aren’t up to much so let’s hope Texel pulls through to reduce the risk of a salmonella outbreak up here.

Texel giving nothing away – 19th of April ’22.

Ben B

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Birds in the enclosure (Spring)

Spring is all around! The days are longer and warmer, buds are beginning to burst into leaf and very soon there will be lots of wobbly new-born reindeer calves taking their first steps in our hill enclosure. As well as the reindeer which increase in number on the hill, so will the bird life as migratory birds arrive from warmer places such as Africa, Southern Europe or even coastal Britain to breed and rear young. All the herders enjoy and appreciate the different birds we get in the enclosure during different times of the year and spring announces the return of some of our favourites.

Ring Ouzel – It may be a fair assumption that this species is the favourite of migratory birds amongst herders. Known as the mountain blackbird, they are a little longer and more upright than their more common cousins and get their name because of the male’s obvious white bib under the neck. They typically nest in gullies or steep scree slopes on the hill side and like many migrants, arrive in April and leave by September. Along with a beautiful song and obvious alarm call it is always a joy to see these birds in and around the enclosure looking for invertebrates to feed on.

Ring Ouzel (image from: https://www.british-birdsongs.uk/ring-ouzel/)

Wheatear – Also summer migrants, these little birds can be common across the more upland environment of the Cairngorms. The males are quite colourful with a blue/grey head and back, black wings and an orange like breast. Wheatears like rocky open land but can be seen on moorlands, and coastal grassland, nesting on the ground in holes, scree slopes or stone walls.  They can be seen hopping about in the enclosure for insects and more so on the footpath towards the Chalamain Gap. Sometimes found in Greenland or Canada and wintering in Africa, Wheatear are among the world’s long distance migratory birds, estimated to fly nonstop for up to 2400km in 30 hours! The first one this season was seen early on the 24th of March.

Wheatear (image from: www.birdwatchireland.ie/birds/wheatear)

Golden Plover – During the winter Golden Plover can be found in the UK near the coast or lower farmlands and are often seen in flocks with Lapwing. For the spring and summer they move to the higher moorlands and hillsides to breed and nest on the ground, they can be be seen in our enclosure but their spotted black and golden camouflage plumage keeps them well hidden, it’s not until you hear their high pitched and rather sad sounding alarm call that you realise they are around. These shy but charming waders can also be seen up on many of the higher hills of Scotland and are a great addition to any hill day.

Golden Plover (image from: https://mkoireland.ie/new-irish-wildlife-manual-released/)

Snipe – Another wader to be found regularly in the enclosure is the Snipe. Like Golden Plover, Snipe are in the UK all year round but many of the wintering birds migrate elsewhere to breed, leaving a much smaller population of residents during the spring and summer. They typically enjoy a damp environment in habitat such as marshes, bogs or wet meadows, all of which is abundant in the reindeer enclosure. Snipe have a long straight bill, short legs and rather dumpy shape. You’re more likely to hear their amazing drumming call during the spring season than ever see them, the only time I ever see Snipe is by accidently getting too close and watch as they fire off the ground and whizz away in a fast zig- zagging motion.

Snipe (image from: https://www.birdguides.com/gallery/birds/gallinago-media/544573/)

Skylark – Another British resident that also moves up onto the mountain side during the breeding season is the Skylark. With a very good population throughout the whole of the UK, these birds are by no means uncommon but it’s always a delight to hear their long and beautiful song high in the sky during the Spring and Summer months. Skylark’s are a rather bland looking bird with a grey and brown speckled plumage that looks very similar to that of a meadow pipit. Get close enough though and you’ll also notice a crested head that helps differentiate them. It’s the sound of a Skylark that makes them unmistakable though, flying well over 100 meters high in the sky and singing for up to 15 minutes long, they make a great additional to a hill trip in the enclosure with the reindeer.

Skylark (image from: https://www.birdguides.com/gallery/birds/alauda-arvensis/1003602/)

Black Grouse – The final bird to mention is the Black Grouse. Black Grouse are a rather large bird, the females are a grey/ brown colour while the males are predominantly black with red eyebrows and white under tail and wings feathers. They live in Glenmore and the Cairngorms throughout the year in secret until the Spring and breeding season when the male birds start to Lek. The Lek is a site usually in a clearing close to woodland where the males compete for the most central positions within it. Flashing their tail feathers, the males can be highly active with plenty of showboating while making bubbling and shrieking calls and sometimes fighting to gain position, the Grouse most central in the Lek will attract the most females who watch the drama from a short distance. We are lucky to have a Lek within the enclosure where the birds are undisturbed within the safety of our private space.

Black Grouse (image from: https://www.scotlink.org/species/black-grouse/)

Joe

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Photo blog: Storm Arwen

At the end of November 2021 the UK was battered by Storm Arwen. It hit us on a very busy weekend with various teams heading off on Christmas tour – Fiona wrote a blog about that which can be found here. We’ve now had many more storms and lots of snowfall this winter, but I thought that I would share some photos of the reindeer and reindeer herders in the snow taken during the first major wintery weekend of the season…

Me (Lotti) and Colin setting off with our team of reindeer to head to Oban Christmas event.
Andi performing the very important task of sweet talking Suidhe.
Hook, Clouseau and Druid leading the boys over for their breakfast.
Ibex and Christie looking majestical!
The wonderful Sheena clearing the way up onto Utsi’s bridge to make the walk less treacherous for our visitors!
Ben H was new to reindeer herding in November when he started working with us, however he is no stranger to snow clearing having worked as a lifty on Cairngorm mountain in the past! He certainly knows his way around a shovel and a bucket of grit! 
The herd enjoying their breakfast!
And finally, the wonderfully snowy view from Utsi’s bridge!

Lotti

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Photo Blog: December 2021

As Ben and Fiona have explained in previous blogs (click here, and here to read), we had a busy December with events and parades up and down the country, as well as a busy Centre here in Glenmore with fully-booked Hill Trips and Christmas Fun paddock slots! Plus hundreds of adoption packs to make up and post out, alongside all the usual office antics.

For this week’s blog, I’ve collated a series of photographs found on my phone during this particularly busy month to give a brief snapshot of what went on in the life of a reindeer herder. Turns out I don’t take many photographs whilst I’m sat in front of a computer answering emails so the photos are quite biased to all the fun times I’ve had out and about. Thankfully this makes for a much more enjoyable blog… lots of pictures of reindeer!

2nd of December – The unmistakable snozzle of Dr Seuss enjoying the fresh snow. The first half of the month was snowy and cold, great for the reindeer but unfortunately this meant we had to cancel some of our Hill Trips. Thankfully the majority were able to go ahead without complications.
3rd of December – Olly and I spying for the free-rangers in a winter wonderland. We watched the herd coming to our call from a couple of kilometers away! Note: stances might not be entirely natural. Photo by herder Sheena.
4th of December – Lotti and I went away for the weekend with this wonderful team of reindeer (Clouseau, Bond, Holy Moley, Trilby and Akubra) seen here having a snooze at the Langholm event.
5th of December – After a night at our Lockerbie base, we headed to Lancaster. Here’s Holy Moley trying to beat-up her own reflection whilst in the pen, much to the amusement of the crowd.
7th of December – the first day of our shiny new Mountain Equipment jackets here modeled by Joe and Lotti, whilst giving the calves some extra feed. It’s a tough job but somebody has to do it!
7th of December – Witch having a big stretch after a snooze during Storm Barra! The ice cracked on her side as she stood up and moved – very cool!
8th of December – After one weekend looking dramatic in our paddocks for “Christmas Fun” Sherlock decided he’d had enough and cast his antlers! Here’s Ben modeling the impressive head gear. Soon after, Sherlock and the other young bulls were out free-ranging on the Cromdales.
9th of December – Cowboy, now 7 months old, already knows that tasty snacks are kept in white bags! What a cutie.
12th of December – Fiona and I had an event at a farm near Inverness. Good opportunity to write some adoption letters whilst waiting for people to visit the reindeer!
13th of December – Finding some peace and quiet away from the office by feeding the beautiful free-ranging herd! Note the lack of snow, there was a thaw halfway through the month but still chilly with frosts most mornings which means happy reindeer!
19th of December – Feeding the free-ranging herd again, lovely Sambar leading the herd in whilst busily chewing the cud.
20th of December – Tiree the dog having a snooze in the office, it’s all a bit much for her!
23rd of December – Herder Harry re-joined us again for December. Here he is being all cute surrounded by our cute but greedy calves.
24th of December – Another trip up the mountain to feed the free-rangers. Here’s Puzzle looking great!
26th of December – It was very windy and wild Boxing Day so we dropped down in to the woods to find some shelter on our Hill Trips.
31st of December – Some very snoozy reindeer after the last Hill Trip of 2021! What superstars they are.

Ruth

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Wild weather and tricky walks

After a few weeks of being closed at the start of each year, when we re-open in early February we run our Hill Trips daily (weather permitting), but until late April these are to our free-range herd rather than to the enclosure that we use from May – December. In the winter season we have an age restriction on the Trips with our minimum age being 4 years old. We also recommend against younger children (aged 4 – 11) coming at this time of the year, instead recommending a visit from May onwards.

Dreich weather – wind and sleety snow – can make walking out hard work even when we’re well equipped and used to the conditions. Soggy herders!

Why? I know a lot of people will have visited from February to April before with a toddler, and had a wonderful time. However, the Cairngorm winter can be extreme, and as we just don’t know until the day if it will be a pleasant bluebird day, or gale force winds with a wind chill of -20, we need to be sensible about when and if it is safe for little children to participate.

Reindeer and herders battling the elements (c) Joe Mann

Small children tend to struggle with the weather more than adults, just because they’re wee – this isn’t a criticism of their toughness, just an observation from the years we’ve been running Trips. Indeed, for a large number of our previous Hill Trips in this season we have had to restrict them to “adults only” due to the weather or distance – safety has to be our first priority. We have to be realistic that when folks are booking ahead, it is unfair to everyone to then have to cancel their Trip on the day.

Even when the weather is calm, the walk to the herd frequently involves crossing unavoidable snow patches, which can be waist deep in places

Along with the weather, there is also the difficulty and length of the walk. In the free-range season this can be four or even five times the distance of the walk to the enclosure, meaning that we are out on the hill for much longer. Younger kids often find these longer distances tougher (again no criticism of their ability, just an observation of their smaller legs and reserves) and struggle to keep up with the group, which then leads to the rest of the people getting cold as we stand waiting. Little kids in backpacks often struggle even more, as they are stationary and not generating any muscle warmth. There is also the added risk of the parent slipping with them, resulting in injury.

Conditions like this are far from unusual, and are just not a place for wee kids to be (c) Andi Probert

In addition, the area has been so much busier in the last few years, and as a result we are needing to take our free-range Trips further and further to find a quiet spot where the reindeer are less likely to be disturbed by passing dogs. It is also trickier now that we take advance bookings as it means almost all tickets are sold before the day itself – in the past we used to only sell tickets on the day once we opened at 10am, at which point we already knew what the weather was like up on the mountains. That meant we could literally look people up and down as they entered the shop and judge ourselves whether they were adequately dressed for the current conditions – before selling them tickets. Unfortunately Hill Trips are just so oversubscribed now that advance bookings are our only option.

It looks beautiful but… Eve battles to feed the herd in winter – hypothermia and exposure are a real risk, even for well-equipped adults (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

We know our decision to not allow tiny children in to take part in the Hill Trips is a disappointment to some, so as an alternative we run ‘Winter Herder Talks’ here at the Centre in the Paddocks on afternoons (through the February half term). From 1.30pm each day you will have the opportunity to meet some of our beautiful reindeer and learn all about them from one of our herders. The Paddocks is usually a self-guided experience (and will remain so from 10am until 1pm), but with a herder available in the afternoons to share their knowledge of the reindeer as a species and as individuals, it gives a much more in-depth experience – providing a good alternative for families with small children. We are still delighted to take all miniature children on the Hill Trips from May to December, when the walk (and generally the weather) is more predictable and manageable.

Andi

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