Busby - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

9th January 202610th January 2026

Volunteer Blog: Anna’s Photography

I volunteered with the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre in September from the 22nd to the 26th after being accepted which I was so happy about as I have been a fan of the Centre since moving from England up to the Highlands five years ago. I fell in love with Aviemore and the Cairngorms quite early on and experienced a Hill Trip after my husband surprised me with a reindeer adoption (Dr Seuss) for my birthday and since that I have been on three further Hill Trips in varying weather but particularly enjoyed it in snow.

I love reindeer, I find them fascinating, beautiful, calm, serene and endlessly photogenic plus I have acquired a passion for wildlife in the Highlands from seals, dolphins, whales, deer and to my favourite animal which is the reindeer. I am a very keen hiker and am getting to know more of the Cairngorm hills and mountains as time has gone by and my experience grows, so the combination of being amongst my favourite Highland scenery in addition to helping out with this physically demanding and rewarding role was an absolute must for me.

I am also a photographer who specialises in landscapes, locations, scenery and mountains but not much experience of wildlife so I really wanted to explore how to capture these majestic and friendly animals.

On my first day at the Centre I was struck by the amazing images that have been taken by herders already and that are produced into postcards, calendars and prints in the beautifully presented and stocked shop which only opened earlier this year. I noticed that landscape was the preferred format for a postcard and was inspired to try and produce my own stunning image when I first went out into the Paddocks and then onto one of my many Hill Trips that week. I was blessed with great weather luckily, some lovely blue skies combined with dramatic cloud over the Cairngorm range and plenty of sun too.

Anna’s inspiration to take the perfect photo.

My first attempt was to capture the reindeer in the Paddocks first thing in the morning when the cold breath was visible from their nostrils and the trees surrounding them made the early sunlight more interesting.

My second attempt was when I was up at the top area of the hill enclosure with the other herders tending to a couple of poorly reindeer and while I had a few moments I managed to snap the other reindeer through the fence and a gate, plus an open door of the shed. There was I thinking I was clever and that I’d nailed it I went and showed Fiona back at the Centre, who has taken her own amazing photos over time that have made it on postcards. She told me very nicely that anything interrupting the view of the reindeer does not appeal to the public as they prefer to see the animals in their natural, free habitat without fences etc, great advice which I straight away took on board, even if a little crest fallen…

Tetley and Ryvita shot through the gate into the hill enclosure.

Alba waiting at the entrance to the shed.

On my other Hill Trips once we had done our jobs feeding the reindeer and engaging with the public, answering their questions or taking photos of them with the reindeer near them, I was able to walk around a bit and try to get my own images from that day, depending on which reindeer was still enough or what would strike me as an interesting shot.

I did manage to get a couple of photos through the antlers with a reindeer herder in the background which was a treat and I was very lucky one lovely day when I spotted the most amazing reindeer under the big photogenic tree with Meall a’ Bhuachaille (the hill) behind it and I took a few different pics while it was reaching up to the branches of the tree as if it was a giraffe on the African plains feeding from the high up leaves and then the same reindeer around the base of the tree with beautiful sunlight on it.

Herder Kate and reindeer Peanut taken through Caterpillar’s antlers.

Popsicle under a pine tree with Meall a’ Bhuachaille in the background.

On my very last day I was blessed at the end of the second Hill Trip with a quick dash up to the ridge with Maisie to call and feed the roaming reindeer. on the top of that ridge (which I have hiked many times before) you get the most incredible view of the Cairngorm plateau so I was very happy to be in one of my favourite places. Maisie did a brilliant job of calling the small herd who swiftly ran down into the valley below and headed up into the wild heather just below us to have some food. I was amazed by the stunning scenery around me and the very beautiful reindeer with pristine antlers that came and stood right in front of me, so I promptly fell back into the soft heather behind me and started to photograph this unique scene.

Falling back into the heather to take in the moment.

I believe I was very fortunate that afternoon to have the blue sky, mountains with the dramatic cloud and the joy of the prettiest reindeer around. Maisie did also take a photo of me with Cairngorms behind me which I very much appreciated.

Soaking in the views and the reindeer – Latte and Cheer (white face) closest to the camera.

Of course I did not want to leave at the end of the week as I was so loving being in this familiar environment with the animals that I had admired for ages and the herders that I had wanted to be like and learn from too, who all turned out to be amazing, helpful and friendly. What I learnt in those five days will stay with me for ever and the gratitude I have for the most amazing experience is as real as the reindeer and I remain hopeful that maybe one day a photo of mine will make it into the shop…

Anna

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

13th December 202515th December 2025

Learning to ID reindeer

One of the trickiest things to learn when starting out as a herder is telling reindeer apart! With over 150 reindeer in the herd, all with their own name, it can seem a very daunting task. So how do you tell a reindeer apart from all the rest?

Every herder has their own method of identifying reindeer. Most can just take one glance, and due to having spent years with the same reindeer and learning to tell them apart – instantly know who it is. But if you haven’t spent years watching the reindeer grow and change with the seasons, there are a few techniques you can use. Be warned though, you’ll constantly feel like you’re back at square one should you visit us throughout the year and try to recognise your favourite.

I’ll start with the easiest way to tell the reindeer apart – their ear tags. Each of our reindeer are tagged with a group colour and a unique number. The colour changes each year, allowing us to quickly work out how old they are. For example, yellow ear tags are for this year’s yearlings, born in 2024 and all named after hot drinks. Silver ear tags belong to the peas, beans and seeds calves of 2020, making them all five this year, and so on. The number then allows you to straight away know exactly who the reindeer is (orange tag 201 for instance, being the lovely, and very well-known Sherlock). The downside to this method is, you have to memorise over 150 ear tag colours and corresponding numbers…

The more enjoyable method is personalities. All our wonderful reindeers have their own unique quirks and traits. Whether they’re extremely greedy and can always be counted on to be front and centre for our hill trips (I’m talking about you Nile!), or if they have a more reserved character and tend to be the shy contemplator at the end of the feed line. Their personalities shine through and can be a good way for us to tell who’s nearby.

*As chilled as a reindeer can be.* Busby is good at chilling!

Now let’s talk about antlers! From little twigs on top of a calf, to magnificent displays fit for a castle fireplace once a bull has finished with them – antlers can be a great way to tell reindeer apart. After the age of three or four, when a reindeer is fully grown, you can usually count on a reindeer to grow the same set of antlers every year. The shape and size of a reindeer’s antlers is genetically inherited by their parents, and is unique to that reindeer, just like our thumb print (how cool is that?!). there are some factors that can influence this, such as the health of the reindeer, their age, if a male has been castrated or a female is caring for a calf. But generally, you can count on antlers being a very reliable way to identify a reindeer. Until they shed them of course!

Iskrem looking slightly different now the velvet has stripped.

*How many points can you count? That can help you tell who’s who*, in this case, Calippo.

*Some antlers just stand out from the herd!* Sherlock to name one!

So, their antlers are gone, and you didn’t study your list of ear tag numbers – now what do you do? Well now you have the not so fun task that no body would possibly want to do… get up close and personal with 150 cute and fuzzy faces! The longer you look at the reindeer, the more obvious the differences in their coat and face markings and the shape of their bodies becomes. With an odd white reindeer here and a brown face with a white speckled nose there, you quickly begin to use markings and patterns to learn who’s who.

*Such a tough job, studying the cute face of Lochi.*

*A darker nose and a large blade antler, you must be… Kernel.*

*A pink nose with brown splotches, who might you be?*… Spartan!

But don’t forget those changing seasons… The reindeer you think you learnt in winter are likely to be all brown by summer. So, maybe you should get memorising those ear tag numbers after all.

Daisy

21st November 202530th October 2025

Volunteer Blog: Kathy’s Week in September 2025

Busby posing beautifully under a rainbow.

September 2025 was a month of ‘firsts’ for me…my first solo road trip, my first holiday in Scotland and my first time meeting a reindeer…

It was also my first time as a volunteer reindeer herder and it was Earl Grey who peered at me through the pine trees as I entered the Paddock with Lotti – my first, rather beautiful, slightly curious, white-nosed reindeer!

Lotti was showing me around and demonstrating the poo picking technique to me. Poo picking is a regular feature of the life of a volunteer and not only is an essential task to maintain the Paddocks, but also is a relaxing way to spend the first hour of the morning…the birds twittering around you, an occasional red squirrel, a few ducks clearing up stray food and the reindeer waiting patiently to be fed.

There were plenty of jobs to be done in between trips – mixing feed, sweeping floors, keeping the outside areas presentable, cleaning wellies, clearing up inside….. Each of these jobs done by a volunteer means that a herder has more time to spend on herd management or administration of the herd records and the adoption programme.

Was I fit enough for the role? Not really …I puffed up the hills on the Hill Trips…but I managed, and the team made sure I was ok. I was able to choose how active I wanted to be and felt empowered to fill my day the way that I chose. I chose the Hill Trips as often as I could. The day to day life on the hills is so different to my usual routine, and by the end of the week I noted how differently I felt about myself and my life. I was proud of my strong shoulders and legs; I appreciated the feel of wind through my hair and rain on my face; I hadn’t once worried about what I was going to wear or how I looked; and my use of social media had reduced…well, perhaps not much, but my Instagram feed just featured cute reindeer faces, passing on the joy to my family and friends, who feared they had lost me forever to the Cairngorms.

The Hill Trips are just a small part of what the herders do and while they are telling visitors about the reindeer, they are also observing the herd for signs of illness or counting the herd to see if anyone has been missing for too long.

And when the visitors have gone, the herders spring into action, coordinating their movements through a never ending stream of WhatsApp chat. One herder might have to do a long trek to locate some free rangers, another may have to harness a couple of deer to be swapped to the Paddock for a few days, and a small team may be needed to round up the herd for regular worming treatment.

Spotting some free rangers on the skyline.

One day Lotti asked if I’d like to help bring a couple of reindeer down the hill for a short stint in the Paddocks. And handed me the lead! The joy of me leading a gently plodding Jester was captured by Daisy as we crossed Utsi’s Bridge. Jester was very willing to follow me… most of the time. And in less than a week I was leading Cowboy down. He responded well to a teeny wobble of the lead and the occasional encouragement from Andi behind.

Reindeer herders Lotti and Caz with Kathy.

One day I sat on the hill while a couple of the herders were tending to a calf. As I looked at the incredible view, an entire rainbow emerged and I felt quite overwhelmed – I couldn’t believe where I was and what I was doing. I felt a warm breath on my neck. It was Magnum. He touched me gently with his antlers and circled me. I know that he was probably just checking to see if I had some food, or maybe he thought I was a tree to help strip his velvet…but his appearance at that moment will be a memory I treasure. If I had a favourite….

Most evenings I was too pooped to do much more than put on my pjs and watch a film, but one evening I was invited to join the team and family at Reindeer House for the calf naming ceremony. The new calves were 3 months old and were to be named on a dance theme this year…and so, over a feast of nachos, brownies and chocolate-covered satsumas (absolutely delicious) the A4 page of names was whittled down to a handful that suited the pretty little creatures. Boogie and Morris and Haka…Rumba and Foxtrot and Mosh…Each matched to their personalities or named in a pattern that fitted with their parent.

The week I spent with the team at Cairngorm Reindeer will stay with me forever. The team are amazing and I feel privileged to have seen first hand the care they give the reindeer.

On the morning that I left Aviemore, I took a coffee and croissant to the side of Loch Morlich. I listened to Radio 6 and texted Lauren Laverne to say how appropriate her choice of “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)’ by Prince Buster was, as I’d just completed a week of volunteering with the reindeer herders. “Kathy…please write a book” was Lauren’s on-air response. Well, perhaps this is Chapter One…..

Kathy

5th September 20253rd September 2025

Volunteer Blog: Emm’s visit in September 2024

The September visit was very special. We were lucky enough to attend Fiona and Joe’s wedding and celebrations. They got married on top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille, the hill behind Reindeer House. It was a very wet and windy day but it was so special being on top with Fiona, Joe and everyone and the dogs and to see them get married. A person was playing the bagpipes too which was very magical. We all went to the Pine Marten Bar afterwards for some food, drink and dancing. Then there was a fantastic weekend of celebrations at Badaguish involving a second wedding ceremony and wedding photos and of course reindeer. The reindeer who attended were Busby, Magnum, Hemp and Dr Seuss. The weather was so lovely and there were lots of sunshine. The other celebrations included a ceilidh, Highland games, fun run, a loch swim in Loch Morlich, where I paddled this time, and lots of music, food and drink. It was so lovely seeing everyone and it was very being special being part of the really fantastic wedding celebrations.

Fiona and Joe on a very soggy but utterly beautiful wedding day.

Fiona and Joe with Busby, Hemp and Dr Seuss!

I was very lucky enough to be invited to attend the naming meeting of the calves. I sat around the table in the kitchen of Reindeer House with my herding friends and had tea and cake with them whilst they decided on the names of the new calves the theme this year being Teas and Coffees.

The calves had grown so much since I had last seen them in May. They had just come into the hill enclosure from the free range with their mums. They were much bigger and braver. Helsinki’s premature calf was doing so well. His name is Irish after Irish coffee.

So much had changed in the new Reindeer Centre building. Tilly with her grandchildren gave me a tour of the new Centre. The stairs had been put in and the walls plastered. Sinks, pipes and the boiler had been put in. It looked so amazing. It is slowly getting there and is so exciting. It will be brilliant. We went outside to see where the reindeer Paddocks will be.

One morning, Poirot and Mivvi were outside the hill enclosure entrance gate. They had got out of the enclosure somehow. They were put back in and Isla walked around the fence line of the whole hill enclosure to see where they had got out. The fence line is 8km and the hill enclosure is 1,200 acres. She found out that someone had left the gate open down in the woods near Utsi’s hut so she shut it.

I had a big surprise one morning on the Hill Trip, as I got out the reindeer van in the carpark and a lady came over to me and I realised it was a lovely lady from our local art shop where I am from. She was with her husband and they were on their honeymoon. They were so surprised to see me as they didn’t know I was up and thought I would be up later in the year. They were visiting because of me as I often go into their art shop back and show her and her colleagues my reindeer photos and tell them all about the reindeer and they got very interested. It was such a lovely surprise to see her and her husband and it was so brilliant taking them up to see the reindeer. That was such a special day.

I had time to chill and enjoy the reindeer which I really find special. One day after a morning Hill Trip, the reindeer were lying down in groups. They were chilling, dozing or asleep. One of the calves, Irish, was twitching in his sleep and his eyes were rolling. Hemp was asleep and snoring. I went around taking photos and selfies and Caterpillar was following me as I had the hand feed bag. She tended to follow me during Hill Trips because of the hand feed bag and because she is a shy reindeer we had been giving her hand feed out of the bag after the Hill Trips to get used to being handled. One day after another Hill Trip, Silk and Suebi from the free range turned up outside the hill enclosure fence. They followed Ruth and Lotti, who had a food bag, into the hill enclosure. They had been trying to get Silk into the hill enclosure for a wee while with little success as she is a very shy reindeer so everyone was really pleased she came into the hill enclosure.

Emm and a bunch of snoozy reindeer, including Morse with those whopping antlers behind.

I got to help again treat some poorly reindeer when Pumpkin’s calf, called Lapsang, had been lying flat out on the hill trip. We took her temperature and it was very high. I held onto Pumpkin, who was on a head collar, whilst Ruth and Isla were dealing with Lapsang as Pumpkin was a protective mum. Most reindeer are not protective but Pumpkin was but Ruth was able to give Lapsang an injection to bring down the temperature and Isla led them both to the shed in the hill enclosure where to keep an eye on them.

At the end of my stay my herder friends surprised me by bringing Scully my adopted reindeer down from the hill. I was so pleased to see her. They had gone out to get Florence and her calf Cuppa off the free range there and bring them back to the hill enclosure to start getting Cuppa used to people and being handled. They also brought four more reindeer back including Scully which was so special. This was at the end of the day on my last working day so the next morning I went up on the morning Hill Trip to see Scully which was so brilliant. I got to hand feed her and Ruth took lovely photos of me with her.

Scully and Emm on the last day of Emm’s stay.

So, I have shared with you some of the memorable highlights of 2024 being with the reindeer and my herder friends. It was such a special time as always. I am really looking forward to being with the reindeer in 2025 with my first visit in February. I am so excited and am counting down the days till my next visit.

Emm

22nd August 202522nd August 2025

Maisy’s Favourite Photos

I (Maisy) have been helping out with the reindeer here and there since March 2024. I am now working on weekends and during my school holidays to my delight. I have started to spend a lot more of my time up at the Centre whether it’s because of reindeer, the people and the dogs, it’s just such a welcoming place and I’m very grateful to know them.

Last Christmas I was working quite a bit while being up at Glenmore nearly every weekend in December! This is our busy season for obvious reasons, and it can get quite manic. By the end of December, I think everybody who was working on weekends were really fed up with Christmas songs from hearing the so many times… We were going up the hill in sunshine, rain or snow we just had to wrap up warm and get on with it. At one point I was wearing so many clothes I could hardly move my body it was so cold. Including the wind, it felt like roughly -19 which is pretty cold especially when you’re not moving very fast with your visitors.

My Mum and Dad are friends with Alan and Tilly so when I was younger, we went to the farm to give a hand. One of the only memories I’ve had at the farm when I was little was being in a tractor with my dad and Alan and falling out of it. I have slowly accumulated quite a lot of photos so when Ruth suggested for me to possibly write a blog I obviously said yes.

Magnum in the sun on a really hot day in mid August.

Chai running for food in the enclosure on the 12^th of April 2025.

Lisette with Frost and Busby at a Christmas event in Fort William.

Christie snoozing on a gorgeous day in December.

Lolly looking surprised, overlooking Kidney Lochan while free ranging on the 2^nd of March.

And of course, can’t miss a dog photo can I. This is Fraoch on the summit of Meall a’ Bhuachaille and it was the best sunset I’ve ever seen! Scotland at its best.

The herd following Lotti in early March heading down Plantation Hill.

Wee Fika last year in the enclosure. She is currently Free ranging with her mum Sunflower.

The herd crossing the Alt Ban on the 9^th of March 2025.

Trilby with her calf in front of Meall a’ Bhuachaille in the enclosure being just a few days old on the 11^th of May.

The first calf of the year building up his confidence in the enclosure. And also, being super-duper cute!

Me and my dad were out on the hills in May and came across a herd free ranging. This is wonderful Mocha.

This is me and Nuii on the same day who was very interested if we had some spare food going. We sadly did not!

Marple and her calf with the herd after coming off free range. This was taken on the 14^th of August 2025.

Zap having a chill time before a busy day with visitors on the 16^th of August.

Maisy

27th June 202527th June 2025

Photo Blog: June 2025

June is the scruffy reindeer month! Perhaps, not their most photogenic season but still a wonderful time of year and I still managed to take lots of photos of course to fill the monthly photo blog . The cows and calves are all free ranging in the hills and we have around half our males in our hill enclosure here, growing lovely antlers and meeting our visitors.

1st of June: Elbe still with almost a full winter coat, but you can see the short summer coat around his eyes and on his nose. The ears back look is very common in Elbe’s family. His twin sister Alba also often has the same ears back rather grumpy expression!

3rd of June: Dr Seuss with his pink nose! Every June his old winter coat falls out completely before his summer coat grows through.

6th of June: Bond looking majestic! Sadly the very next day he had broken his antler and now looks a little less majestic.

8th of June: No reindeer, but a lovely view from the side of Silver Mount looking down towards Glenmore and Loch Morlich with the lovely cotton grass in the foreground.

9th of June: 99 sporting his yellow sun block!

9th of June: The handsome Akubra coming to say hello.

11th of June: On a warm day the boys can go back to the gate and cause a bit of a road blockage for our visitors wanting to leave!

11th of June: Trying to get a decent photo for social media to announce the arrive of our 2026 calendar. This is me showing Amur his page in the calendar.

14th of June: Choc-ice finding a good chin rest for a snooze.

14th of June: After a rainy night, Lupin looks incredibly shaggy – his winter coat is coming off in big dreadlocks!

14th of June: What a motley crew. From R-L we have 99, Rocket and Dr Seuss.

17th of April: Druid doing his best ‘wooing’ face after the Hill Trip. He’s quite a shy reindeer but after a Hill Trip he comes looking for the white bag and wins the hearts of our visitors!

18th of June: Scoop is looking very smart in his short summer coat.

18th of June: Busby lying down and looking very handsome after a Hill Trip.

19th of June: Harness training with some of our male reindeer.

25th of June: Butter, one of last year’s breeding bulls, growing a lovely set of antlers.

25th of June: Morse has also been a breeding bull in his day, but is now one of ‘Christmas reindeer’ trained to harness.

26th of June: Ärta looking very scruffy.

26th of June: Paddock swap day! Taking the Paddock boys back up the hill.

Ruth

13th June 20259th June 2025

Reindeer personalities

The longer we work with the reindeer the more we see their individual personalities, this is one reason I love working with these incredible animals! They are all so unique, and learning all their quirks and characters means we can work with and handle the reindeer better. This wee blog shows a few of their character traits…

The one with the puppy dog eyes…

Bordeaux has a sweet-natured soul with big, beautiful eyes which she likes to use on weak-willed reindeer herders. At the end of each Hill Trip she likes to wander up to the herders and batter her eyelashes at them in the hope she gets to put her head in the white bag containing tasty treats! To be fair to Bordeaux this is most likely a learnt behaviour. A couple of years ago she had a bad summer and came in off the free range in poor condition. We spent a couple of months carrying a special bag of food on to the hill for her containing an extra extra-calorific food mix in order for her gained weight before the harsh winter months. She clearly got used to this special treatment and now can’t understand why she’s not allowed any extra!

Bordeaux licking the evidence of her nose.

The labrador…

Busby is a very lovely and very friendly lad! When he was a calf he was actually rather shy and took a little while for his cheeky nature and fairly outrageous levels of greediness to really shine! The photo below sums his character up well: Isla trying to get past him and Busby making sure that he’s 100% been seen so surely there’s some food in that white bag for him. Reindeer don’t like to be stroked and patted but if there’s a bag of food around, Busby will tolerate most things! He’s also a great poser so often appears on social media especially over the summer months when he’s often in our hill enclosure here on Cairngorm.

Busby doing his absolute best to make sure Isla notices him!

The ‘Danger Reindeer’…

Pumpkin is a feisty girl with bags of attitude! She’s dark in colour and very beautiful so people often want to take photos of her or with her. She’s not shy around people and loves hand feeding from our visitors. BUT if you catch her in a bad mood then you may know about it, she’s well known for waving her antlers at people and even snorting! This means herders on Hill Trips are constantly keeping a wee eye on her and often have to apologise for her bad behaviour – “please don’t take it personally, that’s just Pumpkin!”

Beautiful Pumpkin – who wouldn’t want to get a photo of this beautiful lass! Photo from September 2024.

Even without antlers Pumpkin can be a bit scary! This was me trying to take a lovely photo of Pumpkin next to her daughter Lapsang, and I get the ears back look and snorted at!

The greediest of all…

Aztec! Arguable, but surely most herders would agree?! In 2022 he was officially crowned the title after herders voted on it – read that blog here. He is very friendly, the class clown, and even though Aztec will be 9 years old in the spring he shows no sign of slowing down. Multiple times, I’ve witnessed him jumping over fences from a standstill at the merest rustle of a bag on the other side – he’s very athletic! Aztec during hand-feeding sessions on Hill Trips adds a bit of drama to the day. He has no patience and inhales the food from one pair of hands in milliseconds before heading to the next pair of out-stretched hands, and then the next… Thankfully he grows relatively small antlers so he’s not wheeling around huge headgear. If you foolishly allow him to get into a white bag, then good luck to you! He ploughs his nose to the ground making it almost impossible for you to remove his head and can be rather embarrassing in front of 50 people on a Hill Trip. What a boy!!

Trying to take Aztec for some exercise whilst on Christmas tour is hard-going when the trees are covered in this much lichen!

Here he is free ranging in March 2024 looking all innocent!

Sweet as pie…

Diamond – she’s so lovely! She’s an old girl now at 13. She’s had a permanent limp since spring 2019 and since then she’s been retired from breeding as we don’t want her putting additional strain on her body. As she now doesn’t breed, she gets to spend most of her life out free ranging in the mountains. I’ve had several lovely encounters with Diamond on the free range where she always seems genuinely pleased to see you, and very gently and politely takes some food! The photo below is of Cameron and Diamond casually walking across the Cairngorm plateau. We bumped into her by herself, and she decided to follow us all the way to a lovely safe spot, closer to home. We got some funny looks as we strolled past hill walkers who were doing double takes at our four-legged friend! Hard to believe, but she is the granny of the ‘Danger Reindeer’ above – how is that possible when Diamond is this sweet?!

Cameron casually scrolling across the hill with the lovely Diamond.

The snorer…

Perhaps snoring isn’t a personality trait, but in the warmer summer months Clouseau loves to lie in the exact same spot, snoring away. It’s just off the boardwalk, right by the gate so all our visitors get to experience the sweet snores as he dozes off and waits for the next meal to arrive! He’s actually a rather cheeky chap but boy does he know how to relax!

Turn up the volume! The gentle sounds of Clouseau snoring away in his favourite summer spot!

The last one…

Vienna is a really sweet lass. She’s friendly, greedy, sweet-natured, and a beautiful, unusual colour. However, annoyingly she is most often at the back of the herd trailing along with no haste whatsoever! For other reindeer if they’re being sluggish at the back it’s a sign we may need to check their temperature as they could be feeling a bit under the weather. But we have learnt that for Vienna, that’s just her!

Surprise, surprise! Vienna is the last reindeer through the gate for her breakfast! December 2024.

Can you see the herd stretching out right into the middle of the photo? Yep, that’s Vienna’s bottom closest to the camera right at the very back as always.

I could go on and on but I think I’ll stop there… maybe I could write a second instalment in the future!

Ruth

30th May 202530th May 2025

Photo Blog: May 2025

The start of May was a whirlwind! The first calf of the year was born on the 25th of April, then the cows left us in suspense for a whole week until the 2nd of May until the next one came along. It was then a flurry of calves being born all over the place – we had 19 within one week! Calving then slowed down and things became a bit calmer with the last one found on the 28th. In general we’ve had a very successful month and the vast majority of the calves and their mums are already out free roaming in the hills – I can’t wait to head out to see them over the summer.

On top of this we’ve also had two Hill Trips a day and all the usual business in the office. So I’ll leave it there and just let you enjoy the cute pictures…

As a reminder, we won’t reveal the names of the new mothers until after we’ve let our adopters know in the June newsletter so I’ve tried to be deliberately vague.

1st of May: Brew bored of me talking on a Hill Trip and finding a comfy seat on my rucksack! I’m sure a lot of visitors would empathise with her – I do tend to go on a bit.

1st of May: Sisters Zambezi and Juniper hanging out together.

6th of May: A gorgeous newborn male calf.

6th of May: Bordeaux and Turtle wondering what I’m up to on another beautiful day. I’m starting to forget what rain feels like!

7th of May: Amazon looking beautiful whilst out free ranging in the hills!

7th of May: Druid is a shy boy and doesn’t handfeed but he loves eating from the white bag at the end of the visit, as you can tell from the crumbs on his nose!

9th of May: Choc-ice is a bold and rather cheeky fella!

12th of May: This gorgeous wee one is just over a week old and already very settled around us, so long as mum isn’t too far away!

12th of May: Cameron walking a calf into the ‘nursery’ area of our enclosure, the mum is just ahead, off camera and this wee one is less than 12 hours old.

13th of May: Andi feeding the main herd in the enclosure. Look at the size of Sherlock’s antlers next to everyone else! Busby closest to camera.

13th of May: A beautiful calf chilling out in a bog!

14th of May: Three ‘normal coloured’ calves in the wrong place on the other side of a fence to their (unconcerned) mums! Who do you belong to?!

14th of May: Another calf cooling down in a bog. Look at that row of bottom teeth!

17th of May: Spartan tapping his antlers encouraging their growth.

18th of May: The first batch of calves getting walked out! Here’s Cameron walking with a mother and her calf following on behind.

18th of May: Free ranging mother and calf! A beautiful evening waving them off!

18th of May: Another calf now free ranging in the hills for the summer. Good luck wee one!

19th of May: Kuksa yawning after a Hill Trip. Tiring work being this cute!

21st of May: A really funky coloured calf! What a cutie.

23rd of May: One year old Chai having a suckle from mum Cheer. Usually the calves stop suckling long before this but Cheer and Chai remain closely bonded.

27th of May: How Jimmy spent the majority of my Hill Trip – at my side giving me the puppy dog eyes!

28th of May: Another reindeer calf just for good measure!

28th of May: Elbe, the twin brother to his more famous sister Alba, looking great.

29th of May: Some of our gorgeous boys – Jester, Kulfi, Busby, Mivvi and Olmec.

Ruth

10th January 202510th January 2025

New Christmas Reindeer 2024

So the newbies to Christmas this year are: Morse, Jelly, Ärta, Akubra, Jester, Busby, Cowboy, Mr Whippy, Gelato, Magnum and Mivvi. They were all trained in Oct/Nov this year to wear harness and pull the sleigh. This is always done alongside a reindeer who is already trained to show them the ropes. Most of them went out on Christmas events as a 5-6 month old calf but these boys have now all been trained to harness and to pull the sleigh so lets hear how they have all got on this season.

One of our Christmas Day parades at the Macdonald Resort in Aviemore! Ärta on the right looking very comfortable being led by an elf! Cuppa, Fika are the calves and the old pro (and Ärta’s big bro) Dr Seuss at the back.

Morse’s antlers are so big we had to train him alongside another Christmas reindeer who either had one antler or no antlers so he could fit. As a result we decided that once he was trained here in Glenmore that on actual Christmas events he wouldn’t pull the sleigh as we didn’t want him to have a bad experience so he just had to follow behind with the others. The last time he did Christmas event was back in 2018 when he was a calf so 6 year ago now, but, he hadn’t forgotten and has been great and looks so, so impressive. We did alter his team to only have 1 calf (usually there are 2) because we didn’t think there would be enough room at the back of the sleigh for two adults and two calves with the sheer size of his antlers.

Morse and Frost during a training session in snowy Glenmore.

Jelly and Ärta are Covid calves. This means they didn’t actually go out on Christmas tour in 2020 so it was a slightly steeper learning curve for them. The training the calves get at 5-6 months old is so valuable come adult hood when they have already seen what it’s all about. But, it’s not to say they can’t, it just takes special handling and picking the correct events for these reindeer to take part in. Both were harness and sleigh trained in Oct/Nov and I’d say Ärta was better than Jelly so we may need extra time for Jelly to get there. Jelly lost his antlers fairly early on in the season so he was just a ‘back reindeer’ behind the sleigh this year. Ärta has pulled the sleigh on a couple of straight-forward parades which weren’t very busy and he’s seems like he’ll be grand in the future. Like I said we just take things a bit slower with reindeer who need that extra training but in a few years time I suspect they will be the ones training the newbies so watch this space!

Poirot and Busby at the front of the sleigh whilst Ärta learns how to walk nicely at the back of the sleigh – taking it all in his stride.

The 3 year old boys have been absolute superstars this Christmas. Akubra from the day he joined the herd has always proved to be Mr Chill and the others – Cowboy, Busby and Jester aren’t far behind. They have all been out and about pulling the sleigh or walking at the back and it’s looking like we have some cracking ‘Christmas reindeer’ up and coming in these guys. They make us so proud!

Cowboy at the front of the sleigh in Dunkeld (next to old boy Druid). Cowboy was amazing and didn’t put a hoof wrong!

Another training session with Ben at the front of the sleigh with Dr Seuss and newbie Akubra, plus Busby at the back.

Jester at an event at Landmark, Carrbridge. He did a super job walking at the back of the sleigh.

The lovely Busby, also at Landmark. He pulled the sleigh during the parade and was fantastic.

Akubra and Busby pulling the sleigh on Christmas Day with Lotti leading. Ärta can be seen in the background.

Busby and Akubra pulling the sleigh whilst getting filmed!

Then we have four 2 year olds – Magnum, Mr Whippy, Gelato and Mivvi. We don’t usually geld our reindeer until they are 3 years old (unless we use them as a breeding bull), however, these four were particularly big for their age so we decided gelding them a year early wouldn’t impact their growth. We did train them here in Glenmore to pull the sleigh, which they were great at, we decided that on events if it was a long parade then they would walk at the back rather than put that pressure on a younger body. If it was a short parade with a light Santa then we might give them a go. All four have been so good and taking everything in their stride. Like the boys who are 1 year older they have the making of being a fantastic Christmas reindeer.

Gelato, Irish, Mivvi and Jester on display at Gleneagles Hotel.

Magnum pulling the sleigh for the very first time next to Clouseau. Adzuki at the back.

Mr Whippy pulling the sleigh for the first time next to Anster.

Mivvi on an event at Gleneagles. This was a ‘reindeer only’ event with no sleigh, but great exposure all the same and a lovely place to work!

So there you have it, class of 2024. A real mixed bag but all characters in their own way. When working with them at Christmas time we really get to know them as individuals which only makes that bond and knowledge all the better.

Fiona