April started with snow showers and continued with frequent snowy showers higher in the hills nearly to the end of the month. Throughout the month we have definitely started to see the signs of spring lower down, with the Blaeberry beginning to flower and the mountain flora becoming greener!
Our female reindeer enjoyed a few more weeks out on the free range before we moved them into our hill enclosure in preparation for the Calving season; there are definitely a few big bellies and udders starting to form. Every year the reindeer herders partake in a calving bet which involves us choosing a reindeer and hoping that they are not the last to calve. If they do, we are required to bake a cake for us to enjoy when we name the calves in September; it isn’t the worst if you lose the calving bet. Some herders chose strategically and others chose their favourite reindeer, so by the end of April all the calving bets are in, and it has become a waiting game!
1st of April: After taking visitors out to see the reindeer in the morning, when there was no snow, this was an absolute treat to find them again in the afternoon! You can see Disco on the left, Sundae behind her, Turtle on the right and Tetley.2nd of April: Disco has lost one of her antlers over night. Here is Disco and Latte leading the herd over the the Hill Trip spot. 3rd of April: A trip to see the reindeer over on our Hill farm. From left to right we have Caterpillar, Mangetout, Merida, Spartan, Hemp, Oatcake, Spy, Pumpkin, Brie, Mushy and Busby 4th of April: Beautiful Amazon looking for extra food after the Hill Trip. Over the last year Amazon has grown in confidence and is very greedy.5th of April: As you can seen the snow hung around lower down for a few days. Here is Chai and Camomile scouting out whether i’ll offer more food.7th of April: A suprise visit from Ruth and Baby M9th of April: Despite Cheer having an epic set of antlers, this didn’t deter Trilby from a bit of antler sparring. At the time, Trilby only had half of one antler left. They will both soon lose these antlers in preperation for a new set to grow.10th of April: Hopscotch and Foxtrot leading the herd over a steep sided ridge, the herd didn’t bat an eyelid, and it often amazes me the places the herd chooses to rest. 15th of April: Ryvita, Sika, Christie and Winnie in the Mid ground. Ryvita has the start of her new antlers growing. I often find at this stage the reindeer often look a little like Giraffe. 16th of April: Tetley with Latte excelling at jumping the burn in the background. Turns out reindeer can be agile!18th of April: Our cows and calves are now in our hill enclosure before we split our pregnant females, who will stay in the hill enclosure for the calving season which will start in May. Here is lovely Shannon enjoying some feed after the Hill Trip.19th of April: Before coming over to our hill enclosure, Brie spent her time free ranging at our secondary site. 21st of April: Here come the boys! Dr Seuss (on the left) and Cowboy (on the right) leading the boys up for their feed.
A Christmas Eve tradition of my family is to go see the reindeer parade in Kingussie. When I was younger I often got to go on the sleigh, of course to my delight. Last year Fiona surprised me and I got the chance to pull the front of the sleigh with Akubra and Poirot. This year I had a feeling it would happen again and it did! However, Fiona did give me a warning in the lorry this time. She is known to surprise you…
Maisy with Poirot and Akubra at the 2024 Christmas Eve parade in Kingussie.Maisy on the sleigh as a wee girl!
As a Christmas present to my family this year, I decided to take them up the hill to see the reindeer. The Centre is closed on Christmas Day but the reindeer in the enclosure still need to get their feed for the day. Fiona said if no one else said they’d do it; I could with my family. After a bit of persuading they agreed, and I took a couple from my family and a few friends up the hill. You can’t get a better Christmas than that! All photos here are taken by either myself, my dad or my brother.
When we got to the enclosure, we had all the reindeer on Cairngorm waiting for us. The girls who were on the free-range were asking for a wee bit of extra food too. We picked up the food for the reindeer in the enclosure and headed up the hill. It was a frosty morning and cold, but it was so beautiful. The sun even came out for a while which was lovely. We were all wrapped up but of course the reindeer were very well insulated with their winter coats. We usually feed the reindeer in the hill enclosure a couple of times a day depending on what time of the year but since we were only feeding them once we had a lot of food to take. Thankfully the team on Christmas Eve took it all up to the bins on the hill so we didn’t have to carry it all the way up.
My cousin Magnus leading the reindeer up the hill.
We wandered around the hill introducing the reindeer and answering questions all about how awesome they are. We also had our friends Lorriane and Massa too and they were just amazed. It’s so nice to show people that you know where you spend a lot of your time and where you just love to be. I’m sadly coming up to my exams so I will be cherishing my time with reindeer, Christmas definitely wrapped it up so nicely.
We then headed over to see the free ranging reindeer and I hadn’t seen any of those guys in such a long time, so it was so nice to see them. I was rusty at identifying them, so I had to get my trusty back up plan of a photo from the board in the office which keeps track of the whole herd.
The free ranging girls, left to right Nuii, Pumpkin, Brew, Alba, Camomile.
The girls on the free range haven’t had a chance of hand feeding for quite a while due to them being on the free range for the past year or so. Some exceptions for a couple of the breeding females. They can sometimes be quite wild and excited when they haven’t been around people for a wee while. I turned around to swap bags with my mum as I had an empty sack and she had a full bag of hand feed. As I turned, I saw my mum standing there whimpering. Ryvita, a 14-year-old female with no antlers, had her nose right up against her bag. I hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time. Sadly, no one was quick enough to get a photo or video of the moment of her being scared out of her mind.
Latte being a yearling is now getting to enjoy free ranging on the mountains.
For my Dad’s Christmas present, (which he didn’t know at the time as I’m a very last-minute person who left it too late,) was an adoption of Vanilla. You can find out what you get if you were to adopt a reindeer here. We’ve been in the hills together quite a few times and when we’ve come across a few reindeer, she’s usually always there. She’s such a beautiful girl and every time he always gets a good photo of her, so I thought they’d be a good match.
Vanilla posing on Christmas Day beautifully.
Sadly, not everyone was able to make it on the 25th so I promised to take them up another time. That just happened to be on the 3rd of January. I took my brother and his girlfriend up the hill on a very snowy day. It feels like magic when you’re with the reindeer in the snow, kicking the snow up to get the lichen and deer grass, or them walking in the snow easily while all the humans are falling in streams and falling down snowholes. Although in typical Maisy fashion, I faceplanted off the boardwalk in front of a whole group of visitors.
99 and Cowboy begging Maisy to give them more hand feed.
I sadly had not learnt my lesson and buried my hand feed bag underneath the snow because the reindeer kept pestering me when holding it. I’m not saying any names, but it wasn’t Dr Suess, Cowboy and Tub. I then had a hard time trying to get their big noses out of the bag within all the snow, if you know anything about trying to get a Christmas reindeer nose out of a white bag it’s hard considering their brain is controlled by their stomachs. Which is the same with me, I’ll be honest.
Holy Moley enjoying the winter which has finally arrived.
The reindeer look magnificent in the snow when it all just sits on their nose, and of course it doesn’t melt because they are so well insulated that they don’t let the heat out to melt the snow. However, all the humans do not look magnificent and are bumbling around in the snow trying not to fall in a snow-covered burn. Unfortunately, yes, three of us did fall in the same burn at the same time.
Popsicle dunked her nose into the snow.Orinoco in the snow.
They couldn’t get rid of me that quickly. As the next day I came back up to Glenmore the to go up a Meall a’ Bhuachaille with Sanna and Echo the dogs. The best hill in Scotland and some of the best snow I have ever seen up there. So much fun although, so much more energy goes into walking in deep snow especially at some points I was sinking above my hips and the dogs kept vanishing under all the powder.
Sanna and Echo between her ears near the summit of Meall a’ Bhuachaille.
Where has October gone?! It was a pretty hectic month here with the rut in full swing, halter training the calves, free ranging reindeer keeping us busy, and three weeks of October holidays. But it’s been very fun and hopefully a successful rut – we’ll find out in the spring! The big news was that we managed to open the Exhibition! We did a very ‘soft opening’ just letting the October holiday makers have a look around to test things out. The best place to find up to date information regarding our Paddocks and Exhibition is still our website, or feel free to give us a call.
1st of October: Torch looking mega – she’s in great condition and looks particularly super for 13 year old.6th of October: Cowboy investing the bags – “any more food for me?!”6th of October: The gorgeous Winnie, she’s now 2.5 years old so was running with a bull this autumn. We’re so proud of our little hand-reared calf!7th of October: Handsome Jester.7th of October: Choc-ice has been one of our breeding bulls this year. He certainly knows where the lichen comes from – this was the face that met us most mornings.9th of October: Kernel looking for food. Kulfi and Christie are behind.10th of October: Reindeer on the skyline. 11th of October: Mother and daughter – Sunflower and Fika.11th of October: Zoom will be trained to pull a sleigh this autumn.18th of October: Feeding the herd on a glorious morning.20th of October: Dr Seuss posing beautifully. 20th of October: Wonderful Emm walking off Orinoco and Suebi – they’d be running with Jimmy the bull but after a few weeks Jimmy seemed to be done with the rut, so these girls got to go back out on the free range.21st of October: Bordeaux and calf.21st of October: Beret and calf – he has super cool face markings.22nd of October: Jester and Kernel chewing the cud together. 23rd of October: Dante and her beautiful dark calf.29th of October: Feeding the calves out of the bag. It’s turned them all into absolute monsters! 29th of October: Tap and calf. Two of the darkest reindeer in the entire herd.30th of October: Pinto and her son.
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!
Ärtaon Christmas Day!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.
December has been another mixed month for me in terms of work with time at home on the hills, and out and about on tour! Here at home, I’ve been on the hill working with the herd, taking lots of people up to meet the reindeer on Hill Trips, and helping to keep the office afloat at this incredibly busy time of year. I’ve also been on road again with Christmas teams doing parades and events in Strathaven, Dunkeld, Fife, and very locally in Carrbridge amongst other places. Once again, the reindeer were super and made me incredibly proud.
The Paddocks has also been open – hoorah! We’re still not allowed in the building, and it’s all quite basic at the moment, but at least we have had beautiful reindeer on display, and we have even been visited by Santa. Here’s just a few photos from December for you all.
4th of December: Earl Grey is one of the biggest calves of 2024. What a chunky boy, and a complete poser!4th of December: Cuppa and his funky “eyebrows” making him look super serious all the time.5th of December: The mallards often steal the show on a Hill Trip!6th of December: The team enjoying their lichen after a Christmas parade to the Benarty Centre, Fife.7th of December: Cowboy ready to pull the sleigh in Dunkeld. This is his first season as a sleigh puller and he’s an old pro already!8th of December: Chai was so relaxed behind the sleigh whilst waiting for Santa to arrive she laid down! 11th of December: A funny face from Mangetout!12th of December: Dad Ärta and his son Earl Grey, with matching white noses!13th of December: Scully is in great condition just now after having a year off motherhood, hopefully she may now be in calf. Fingers crossed for the spring. 14th of December: Latte at Landmark Forest Adventure Park in Carrbridge. Completely unfazed about the giant T-rex looming over the pen!15th of December: Christie and Morven. 15th of December: Maisie is a local lass who’s been working with us on weekends and during her school holidays, here she is with two “hats”, Beanie and Trilby!15th of December: Some of the lovely dogs posing by the fire in the shop, Fraoch, Elsie, Ginger, and Tiree! 18th of December: Scully, Christie, and Torch posing beautifully! There’s even a wee rainbow if you look super close. 20th of December: Irish being cute!20th of December: Mocha and her mum Vienna. Vienna has recently lost an antler this week.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our blog readers, we really do appreciate your support and hope to entertain you every Friday of 2025 too!
For anyone who didn’t read part 1 then check it out here!
Halter training:
October is halter training time for our reindeer, we will (temporarily) take the calves away from their mums and start doing some training. This is very helpful in case we need to catch them for any treatment in the future or walk them to a new area. Some of the well-trained, castrated reindeer end up doing some Christmas events in the festive season and sometimes the cattle will go to an event or show, needing to be halter trained.
Reindeer or cattle, the first time on a halter can be a bit difficult as it’s an unfamilar sensation having something on your face. We will try to give them lots of nice food and the best experience as possible. The second day will be much more relaxed for both handler and animal already, but is does take some work and patience to get them to walk nicely on a halter without them being stubborn or without any pulling.
Halter training with cattle can be a bit more dangerous as they are heavy in weight and pretty strong. Not only that, where reindeer physically can’t kick backwards with their rear legs, cattle can! At least, luckily both reindeer and cattle will not bite you, as they both don’t have upper teeth, but instead have a strong dental pad (gum without teeth).
One of the reasons why we halter train all our reindeer is so we can catch them out whilst free ranging incase we need to move them. This bunch of free rangers were easy to catch with that big bag of bribery next to Lisette!Halter reaining in Glen Nevis.
Relaxing:
Reindeer or cattle, they all do love a bit of relaxing time!!
Ted having a nap!Mairi enjoying the sun on her side.Kelpie enjoying the sun.Akubra enjoying some autumnal sunshine!Cowboy fast asleep.Dr Seuss relaxing, probably after eating lots of hand feed!
Green things(!):
Reindeer in the Cairngorms and Highland cattle in Glen Nevis, they all love the color green; bags, scoops, bins, or even green vans!
Reindeer calves eating out of the green bag – Tub, Magnum, Viennetta, and Mr Whippy!Beret seeing if we’ve got any extra food for her in our green bins in the hill enclosure.Enjoying a quick snack from a green scoop!Checking out Lisette’s green van!
Selfies:
Reindeer and cattle don’t mind a selfie or close-up photo either!
Max with his big wet nose.Beret and her lovely furry, warm nose!
Cow and calf:
Cow and calf reindeer, Scully and new-born Yukon.Cow and calf Highlanders!
Popularity:
Another thing they both have in common, they’re native to Scotland and tourists love seeing them!
Happy people on a Hill Trip visiting the reindeer.People enjoying seeing the Highland cow herd in Glen Nevis.
Reindeer used to be native to Scotland but went extinct. Nobody knows exactly when, but we think the last reindeer (still roaming in Caithness and Cairngorm area, the coldest places in the UK) went extinct around the 1000 years ago due to different reasons, such as range restriction and people overhunting them. In other areas of Britain, reindeer disappeared much earlier, due to natural climate change after the last ice-age, the habitat changed and there was less suitable food for this Artic animal.
We think Highland cattle have descended from the Egyptian Long horn cattle. These cattle were well established and domesticated in the Nile village around 6000 years ago. Neolithic farmers brought these cattle into Britain. The group of cattle settled in the Highlands had to adapt to the colder and windy weather, growing lots more hair!
Another story is, that the Celtic immigrant people brought their Short Horns, another old breed (all cattle likely come from the Aurochs, originating either in North India or Central Asia and spreading into North Africa and into Europe) to the Scottish Island, where again, they had to adapt to the harsh weather. These cattle, black in color, were first called Kyloe (from the way they swam or were ferried across the kyles) and are now known as Highland cattle, mixing with the cattle on the mainland and domesticated into different colors, mostly red haired due to Queen Victoria’s preference. The Highland cattle herd book was established in 1885.
After the reindeer got re-introduced in Scotland to the Cairngorms (still the coldest place in the UK) in 1952, people fell in love with them and the Reindeer Centre has been taking people to see the reindeer on Hill Trips or in our Paddocks.
On the Glen Nevis Estate I’ve started taking people up to see the cattle since last year, March-October, either on a guided walk in the Glen or on the Hairy Cow Experience (find out more here: https://www.glen-nevis.co.uk/activities).
I have been a reindeer herder for the last three and a half years, working two days per week. For the rest of the time I live in Fort William where amongst many other things I look after a herd of Highland cattle. I thought it would make a fun blog to talk about some similarities and differences I find working with these two very hairy animals.
Names:
Of course, Highland cattle and reindeer do not look like each other at all, but we do call the female cattle and reindeer cows, and we call the male cattle and reindeer bulls, and their young calves.
Highland calf in Glen Nevis.Some lovely calves from the Cairngorm reindeer herd.Highland bull Ted.Highland bull Bealach.Roman, a very impressive reindeer bull, in September 2021.Reindeer bull Sherlock.
Horns or Antlers:
Highland cattle have got horns on their head, made from keratin, with the life core in the middle. They will grow slowly and keep growing their whole lifetime.
Reindeer, like most other deer species, have got antlers on their head. They grow quickly, fall off, and grow back every single year. These are not made from keratin, but bone. While they grow, a special tissue called velvet is on the outside, beneath that is the blood supply feeding the growing bone.
Normally Highland cattle will not lose their horns; however, we do have one exception in Glen Nevis, our famous girl Mairi. She broke her horn 4 years ago, I’ve no idea what happened, it will remain a mystery forever.
Mairi with her broken horn.
And normally reindeer will grow a nice set of antlers, but after a little accident and surgery when she was only a little calf, reindeer Holy Moley will only grow one antler every year too!
The lovely Holy Moley with her one antler!
Coats:
Both animals grow a thick winter coat, and they will lose this coat for the summer months.
Instead of melting, the snow will stay on their body as they don’t give away any of their body heat, keeping the cold out and warmth in.
A snowy Highlander!Juniper and Sundae in the middle of a snowy herd.Sheila in her thick winter coat.Sheila looking smart in her summer coat.Beret in her beautiful thick and light-colored winter coat.Beret in their much thinner and darker looking summer coat.In June, all reindeer look very scruffy, hairs flying everywhere. This is Cowboy losing his winter coat in June 2022.
Highland cattle sometimes need (and like) a hand getting rid of their winter coat, by giving them a brush in springtime. However, they also don’t mind a nice brush other times of the year.
Giving the cows a helping hand during the moult.Ted enjoying a summer brush.
Where reindeer don’t like being touched, most of the cattle I work with absolutely love it. Reindeer are not tactile animals; they don’t groom each other. If a reindeer touches another reindeer, they do this to tell the other reindeer that he or she is in their private space and need to move out of their way. If people touch them, they likely just walk away, thinking we are telling them off.
There are of course a few reindeer who don’t mind getting touched, mostly because they’re hoping for some extra food.
A quick reindeer interaction with Beret, nothing to do with the food bag under Lisette’s arm! 😉
Cattle love licking each other. Like every person and animal, they all have their own character, but most of the Glen Nevis herd will do anything for a brush. We will try not to do this over winter, as we don’t want to pull out their hair which protects them in the colder weather.
Iona and Rain enjoying each others touch, early summer 2024.
I thought I’d write a wee blog to thank everyone who has come to volunteer for us this year. However, if you’ve volunteered in a previous year, please don’t be remotely offended if you’ve not found your name in a blog like this – it’s literally only because I have a few spare minutes and Ruth (blog master) is sitting next to me… so probably time I wrote a blog once again. Gotta keep her sweet…
Volunteering this year has had a slightly different feel to it, as the Paddocks normally take up a considerable amount of a volunteer’s time each day; poo-picking, sweeping, opening and closing them each day, chatting to visitors out there… But this year that aspect has vanished completely, so volunteers have been able to be a bit more ‘relaxed’ during their week, sometimes not starting until gone 10am. Unheard of in the past! Although sadly this luxury was not afforded to us full-time herders… Volunteers this year have therefore spent the majority of their time helping us on the Hill Trips, usually twice a day, with rather less time spent pottering about down at the Centre.
Caitlin joined us for a week in August. Here she is with Hemp and Limpopo in the hill enclosure.
Normally we take volunteers each year from May to October, but long-term regular volunteer Emm is afforded special status, often coming outwith these months. She managed three stints this year, and you’ll find many blogs over the years from her on our website, the most recent (at time of writing) being here. We love having Emm here to volunteer!
Emm with her adopted reindeer Mo, braving the weather at a very cold and wet local Christmas event a few years back.Emm in September this year with Cowboy and Mivvi.
I’ve just peered at the wall calendar here in the office and counted 26 other volunteers who gave up a week of their time to come and help us this year – as ever from all walks of life and ranging in age from 18 to late 60s (I’m guessing – apologies if I’ve offended and congratulations if I’ve flattered!). We love this range of people from all walks of life – it’s much more interesting for us to have a stream of totally different people here every week than it would be to get people all of like mind.
Of those 26 people 12 were returnees, which I guess means we must be doing something right! There’s an element of apprehension for us on a Monday morning when a ‘new’ volunteer is due to arrive, not knowing what to expect of someone – the scant info we gather in the application form only goes so far to give us an idea of what someone will be like. This year everyone, new or returnee, has been absolutely wonderful though, so we never needed to worry.
Stephanie returned for a week in June of this year, the third year on the trot! Stephanie is pictured doing a very important volunteer job – offering the slightly leaner youngsters some extra food at the end of a Hill Trip. Yukon is delighted!
So huge thanks must go to all 26 lovely volunteers, in order only of when they visited: Victoria, Jayne (who wrote a lovely blog you can read here – thanks Jayne!), Anne, Kerry, Rachel C, Marcus, Stephanie, Anna, Wendy, Aleksandra, Becca, Rachel S, Jocelyn, Nora, Caitlin, Katie, Callum, Helen, Christine, Karen, Sharon, Colin, Sophie, Lisa, Emily and Brenda. You are all amazing! A special shout-out to Nora, who at 18 was our youngest volunteer but also the furthest travelled – having persuaded family to come on holiday to Scotland from Washington D.C. in the States, so she could spend a week of that time with us!
Rachel S joined us in July for a second time. This is herder Kate with Dr Seuss and Ärta (left) and Rachel with Ob and Iskrem (right) helping out with harness training.One of the main responsibilities of a volunteer is helping out on Hill Trips, carrying food, helping dish out the hand feed, and talking to our visitors. This is Alex who helped out in July for a week doing a sterling job of not letting Jelly in to the white bag!
Another person to mention is 14 year old Maisie, who lives locally and is the daughter of family friends of the Smiths. This year Maisie has been joining us on some days in the school holidays and has been wonderful, super chatty and sociable for such a young lass, and always keen to get involved and help out. She’s also very fit, being into lots of outdoor sports, so puts me to shame anytime I’m on the hill with her!
Borlotti saying hello to the lovely Maisie!
And the final person to mention who’s a constant help throughout the year is Carol. Carol started out as an adopter, living relatively locally, and has progressed to being a regular volunteer, helping on the Hill Trips most weekends. She has finely honed her hand-feeding talk over the years and now has the groups listening with bated breath!
For anyone reading this that is thinking that a week’s reindeer herding sounds like a fit for them, why not come and join us?! We start booking in each season’s volunteers each January, so drop us an email then if you’re interested and we’ll send you an application form. We can’t provide accommodation unfortunately, but there is both a campsite and a youth hostel within a couple of hundred metres, not to mention a huge amount of other accommodation elsewhere in the area.
But finally, I will finish on a sad note. Our wonderful long term volunteer Paul, who visited for a fortnight twice a year for around 25 years, initially with wife Pat – sadly passed away in his mid-eighties this summer. Paul was a retired joiner and so built all sorts of things here over the years, mixed all the feed for the reindeer and generally made everything wobbly and creaky into something strong and stable. He could talk the hind legs off a donkey, keeping us constantly entertained with his stories, and did his best to get us all drunk in the evening at least once during each stay! We will miss him hugely.
Calving season May 2021 was my first month being a reindeer herder.
Later that year at Christmas time, I wanted to adopt a reindeer for my nephew Daley and for my niece Joelle in the Netherlands, but who to choose from all those hundred and fifty nice reindeer in the Cairngorms?
Mum Brie was my calving bet that year and she gave birth to a female calf, who we called Beret. Beret was a lovely light-colored reindeer calf, very sweet. As Joelle likes brie (as in the cheese) I thought it would be nice to adopt Brie’s daughter Beret for Joelle, both having a French name as well. Last week was all about Cowboy, my chosen reindeer for my nephew Daley; see that blog by clicking here.
The chosen reindeer! Beret on the left and Cowboy on the right.
Beret spent a lot of time roaming freely on the Cairngorm mountains. She likes to stay around her family, often grazing close to her mum Brie and her younger sisters Sorbet (born 2022) and Danube (born unexpectedly in 2023 on the free range).
The times she was in our hill enclosure, Beret wasn’t quite sure how to behave as a reindeer. Last year she was jumping on top of people to ask for handfeed!
She ran with one of our bulls in Autumn breeding season 2023 and in May (after a winter of free ranging, enjoying her freedom and eating lots of lichen) she gave birth for the first time! She had a big dark colored beautiful female calf and she also got a new baby sister in May this year. All have been out free ranging on the mountains again for the summer months and in September they came back to the hill enclosure so we could halter train the calves.
This Autumn 2024 Beret is behaving a bit more like an adult meeting visitors from our Hill Trips, she is a mum now after all. Her calf and little sister both look great.
Here’s some lovely photos of Beret growing up:
Brie and her calf Beret out free ranging in the hills – July 2021. Beret back in the hill enclosure – August 2021. What a cutie!Beret now growing in her lovely winter coat – September 2021.Beret with her thick winter coat – December 2021.Beret having a rest, most likely after eating lots of food – February 2022.Beret after recently casting an antler – April 2022.Beret beginning to grow her new set of antlers – May 2022.Beret moulting her old winter coat but still looking very cute – June 2022.Beret – January 2023 enjoying the snow!Beret beginning to grow a new set of antlers – April 2023.Beret looking very smart in her summer coat – August 2023.A recent picture of Beret from last month in the middle of stripping her velvet – September 2024.Beret’s lovely calf! She’s done such a good job especially as first time mum.This is Beret and her wee sister. Beret’s mum Brie had another calf this year adding to the family! Beret and the new addition have lovely matching white noses.Granny Brie with her new calf.
Hopefully, when Daley and Joelle are a bit older, they will be able to come up and meet Cowboy and Beret in Scotland.
Calving season May 2021 was my first month being a reindeer herder.
Later that year at Christmas time, I wanted to adopt a reindeer for my nephew Daley and for my niece Joelle in the Netherlands, but who to choose from all those hundred and fifty nice reindeer in the Cairngorms?
I mostly liked the name Cowboy. Named after a cowboy hat (calving theme in 2021) but also keeping the name animal related. Cowboy’s mum was Pony and Cowboy’s sister is named Turtle (after the bean). A cowboy is not only a person who takes care of cattle, but in movies he is described as a bit of a hero or maybe even a bit of a naughty person in a nice kind of way. Reindeer Cowboy, was a gorgeous dark colored calf and he (now 3 and a half years old) is still very handsome. I decided to adopt him for my nephew Daley. Next week’s blog will be about Beret, my chosen reindeer for my niece Joelle.
Beret on the left and Cowboy on the right – the chosen reindeer for adoption!
Here some lovely photos of Cowboy growing up:
Mum Pony (with her mouth full!) and newborn Cowboy!Cowboy aged 4 months old – September 2021Cowboy on a frosty morning – December 2021Cowboy – December 2021Cowboy – February 2022Cowboy with one antler – March 2022Cowboy growing his new set of antlers and losing his winter coat – June 2022Cowboy still looking very scruffy but with bigger antlers then the previous pic – July 2022Cowboy in November 2022 in the woods adjacent to the Paddocks. He grew a very funny set of antlers in 2022, a pointy V (peace sign) sticking out in front of his face on his left antler.Cowboy in September 2023 – what a handsome boy!
Cowboy spent time at the farm in Glenlivet last summer (2023) and grazing on the free-range over the winter months.
This summer he spent a lot of time in our hill enclosure and it’s nice to see him more often on the Hill Trips. He also loves getting hand feed!
Cowboy looking for more hand feed, September 2024
I’ve spotted him fast asleep not long ago, dreaming I’m sure.. rolling his eyes and twisting his legs. I took my chance to quietly sit next to him for a minute, thinking he would walk away as soon as he woke up and realized someone was sitting next to him. However, he opened his eyes, looked at me, changed position and went back to sleep! Dreaming about food?!
