Glacée

8th May 20263rd May 2026

Volunteer Blog: Emm’s Visit – October 2025 (Part 2)

Time for part two of Emm’s wonderful blog, picking up where we left off last time – a broken Brenda and reindeer to herd!…

The next day I helped Lotti and Ruth walk the calves Oro and Flamenco around Glennmore. Akubra and Kulfi were the adult reindeer who came with us. I walked in front to make sure there were no dogs coming as reindeer are scared of dogs. They think that they are wolves. I also picked up the reindeer poo too if they went to the toilet.

Daisy and I did a very wet, windy and cold Hill Trip. We took the visitors to the Hill Trip spot but the reindeer were high near the ridge and were not coming down. So Daisy went up to encourage them down while I did the hand feed talk to the visitors and talked to them about reindeer facts and told them their names and naming themes. We then were able to feed the reindeer when they had come down with Daisy. We were splitting Sundae off because she is in season. I stayed with Sundae for most of the Hill Trip to keep an eye on her.

After the Hill Trip, I met Ruth and Lotti by the Sugar Bowl carpark and helped take Akubra, Kulfi and 2 calves called Disco and Foxtrot up to the hill enclosure. We were doing a Paddock swap as Disco and Foxtrot had finished their calf training school.

Emm walking Akubra and Foxtrot back to the hill enclosure.

I got very wet and soggy and had water in my wellies. It was like a loch in my wellies. Lol.

A very soggy team of herders! Ruth, Emm, Daisy and Lotti, still smiling despite the miserable weather.

Another day up on the hill, Vienna was looking miserable and sad and she kept going away from the other reindeer. So we put her in the shed area and pen with a friend and kept an eye on her and checking her temperature. The vet came to check her and did some treatments to see if they helped her and to see if it made her feel better. Along with Ruth I joined Daisy and Kate near the end of the Hill Trip. We needed to take Ceilidh’s temperature. We couldn’t catch her so Kate led Glacée, Ceilidh’s mum, and with Ruth I herded Ceilidh from behind to a smaller bit of the enclosure called the temporary corral. Daisy managed to catch Ceilidh to find she did have a temperature so Daisy injected Ceilidh to bring it down. Me and Kate took Glacée and Ceilidh to the shed to keep an eye on Ceilidh. Kate led them and I herded behind.

Glacée and a much brighter Ceilidh after spending some time being cared for by the herders.

The inside jobs I did were sweeping and hoovering around the Reindeer Centre. I also mopped the floor downstairs. I washed the wellies and put them up to dry then away later. I put a sticky label with the reindeer herds news on the back of each newsletter photo. I also put the newsletter and the newsletter photo into envelopes. I put the 1^st year adopt packs together and I also did some shredding. I did feed mixing and hand feed mixing too, poo picking in the Paddocks and also let the reindeer through into their daytime Paddock area for their breakfast. In the evening I put them to bed and give them their tea in the night time Paddock area. I also got taught how to lock the Reindeer Centre’s carpark and swept the steps outside the Reindeer Centre, behind the lift and outside the front.

It is lovely meeting the visitors too on the Hill Trips. It is lovely seeing their reactions when they are amongst the reindeer and when they get to hand feed a reindeer. On most of the Hill Trips, I did the hand feed talk and on one of them I did the introduction talk. I also got to see my adopted reindeer Scully and Zoom while visiting which was fantastic. I met Scully’s calf called Rumba which I was very excited about.

Emm taking a selfie with the lovely Scully and Rumba.

Away from the visitors and Hill Trips and I was able to enjoy spending time with the herders. While I was there they went on a zipwire trek (run by local company G2 Outdoor) on one of the dark evenings and I was very lucky to be invited to join them. It was very exciting. When you went in, a pretend big spider suddenly came down on you and there was a ghost in the toilet. It had lights and Halloween things when you went around. You went over rivers and through trees. You had to do a torch flash saying the next person can go. I had a race with Andi at the end and I went so fast. I really enjoyed myself. It was such great fun. Thank you ever so much everyone for letting me come.

A night of zipping through the trees for the reindeer herders! All smiles from Andi, Emm, Sheena, Daisy, Lotti, Kate, Cameron, and Amy.

On another evening, my reindeer herding friends came around to our holiday cottage for a curry night which was great fun. My Dad and Mum had made lots of curry and we ate and chilled out and I gave them a tour of the holiday cottage. Sheena had brought around a great spider target game which we played. The spiders were sticky and they ended up hanging of the ceiling and one even dropped into Ruth’s curry. Lol.

A wonderful evening of delicious food, great company, and sticky spiders!

Another day I went on a lovely walk with Lotti by Pityoulish Loch and we had cups of tea and sat and chilled out on the pontoon and watched the wildlife. It was a lovely spot.

Lotti and Emm enjoying a lovely walk wildlife spotting.

I met Daisy who works at the Reindeer Centre and her lovely dog Echo who is very clever and we went on a lovely walk to Green Loch and then up through the trees at the back of the Reindeer Centre. I also met Fiona’s and Joe’s lovely puppy called Sanna who is very cute and I also met Alicia who works part time at the Reindeer Centre.

Echo teaching Sanna how to sneak up on the herders and steal the reindeer food!

It was so lovely to spend my spare time with such special friends doing things we all enjoyed. I can’t wait to go back in March 2026. I am counting down to the day. I am so excited.

Emm

27th March 202626th March 2026

March photo blog

So far during March we have encountered all manners of weather, thankfully though in comparison to January and February there has been an increase in good weather days. During the start of the month, we had beautiful blue skies and even a fresh dumping of snow. The reindeer have been amicable, meaning that our walks out to collect them in the morning have been a bit easier than the previous months; once they find a good patch to graze on it can be hard to move them again and as you can imagine there is fresh grazing begining to sprout on the mountain side.

It is usual in March for some of our younger reindeer to come down to lower ground at our secondary site and in return a handful of reindeer were returned to us here at Cairngorm. The most important being Winnie of course- she has been missed!

Over the last month our cows have began to lose their antlers and there are now a few of our girls walking around with no antlers on their head. By the end of the month, Ryvita, one of our 16 year old females has began to grow a new set!

**4th of March:** Celidh with Mum Glacee on her right. These two are definitely continuing their families fiesty character.

**6th of March:** Fresh snow fall means that most grazing is covered. Thankfully pip’s fluffy nose is protecting her from the effects of the cold.

**8th of March:** Ryvita and Vienna leading the herd on our way to the visit spot. In previous years, Vienna was often found at the back of the herd, not this year, she is pretty determined to make sure she is at the front of the group.

**15th of March:** After almost a week a way from work it was a wet morning to collect reindeer. Here is a very soggy Lapsang.

**15th of March:** Fox trot and Oro are questioning their choices at the back of the herd during the morning walk to the visit spot.

**17th of March:** Moving left to right- Peanut, Polka, Pip and Lolly all eating off the feed line during todays Hill Trip – it was a blustery one!

**18th of March:** We are hitting the time of the year were our female reindeer are begining to lose their antlers. Here is Lapsang again with only one antler.

**18th of March:** Christie also sporting one antler with Mississippi behind.

**22nd of March:** Our christmas elves are observing the office and making sure we are working hard!

**25th of March:** Bordeaux and Zambezi waiting patiently for extra feed after the Hill Trip.

**26th of March:** Fika (one of our young females, born in 2024) first in line for the morning feed!

**26th of March:** Ryvita showing off that her new antlers have begun to grow.

**26th of March:** Finishing up with a picture of Alba, who is currently at our secondary site, as we cannot mention Winnie without including Alba! As the girls have matured they have forged their own paths in the herd and it isn’t very often that we find them both together.

Amy

27th February 202627th February 2026

Photo Blog: February 2026

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Amy

14th November 202514th November 2025

It’s nice to do a blog about an individual reindeer every now and again. Naturally it often ends up being an older reindeer, or someone with bags of in-your-face character. However this week’s blog is all about a three year old female called Glacée who up until recently didn’t really stand out in the herd that much.

Glacée was born in 2022 and her mum, Dante, happens to be a reindeer who I have a big soft spot for. Dante is mega! She’s a big girl, who grows large antlers. She has an independent nature, she’s not super greedy or pushy but if we work with her gently, she’s reliable and catchable. In 2022, Dante had her second daughter, who later was named Glacée. (As of 2025 Dante now has four daughters – Mangetout, Glacée, Amazon and a new calf for 2025 named Disco!).

Dante and Glacée as a calf in the hill enclosure before going out to free range.

As usual, Glacée was born in the hill enclosure and after a few weeks, she and Dante headed for the hills. By the end of August it was time to bring them both back into the hill enclosure so we could start getting wee Glacée used to visitors, teach her what a bag of food is, and train her to walk on a halter.

We found Dante and Glacée in an area quite far away from the hill enclosure, too far away to simply walk them back in. However, we couldn’t get anywhere near Glacée to catch her, she was a very timid calf. So, us herders took it in turns to go out and feed Dante with the intention of slowly getting Glacée used to being around us so we could get close enough to catch her. What a chore – getting to walk in a beautiful area to find and chill out with two lovely reindeer! After a few trips out to see them both, Dante decided she would actually just bring herself home, and one morning we found her on the ‘ski road’ here on Cairngorm, where Fiona simply walked them in! They spent the autumn in the hill enclosure where Glacée quickly grew in confidence around people.

Glacée as a four month old calf enjoying being out free ranging in the hills. This was taken on one of my missions to make her tamer so we could catch her and bring her home.

Glacée and her mum Dante in December 2022. Now a friendly wee lass, growing in confidence.

Glacée back out free ranging in the early 2023.

As a yearling and a two year old, Glacée blended into the background a bit. She is ‘normal coloured’ and grows nice but relatively simple antlers. She had an independent streak so wasn’t super ‘in-your-face’ greedy but she always remained reliable when catching her out.

Glacée at the front of the herd in March 2024, at almost two years old.

In May 2025, aged three years old, Glacée had her first calf – a wee girl who we later named Ceilidh! Just like her three years earlier, Ceilidh was born within the hill enclosure and spent the summer out free ranging. Glacée and her calf came back into the enclosure in late August. This process was slightly easier than when Glacée herself was a calf as they were in walking distance from the enclosure and Lotti and Mel had a wonderful morning bringing them home.

Glacée and Ceilidh on the free range in June 2025.

At the end of July 2025 they both have changed a lot.

Glacée and Ceilidh back in the hill enclosure in September and already getting quite bold.

Since Glacée has been back in the enclosure we’ve noticed a real change in her behaviour – she has turned into a complete beast! She’s got bags of attitude and confidence and spends a lot of her time chasing other reindeer around, including some older girls I was quite surprised to see her dominating. This can be quite distracting whilst trying to give a talk to our Hill Trip visitors, with her charging around in the background! She certainly like her own space! She’s only three years old so it will be interesting to see how she develops over the next few years. I can imagine her being one of the big dominant cows in the herd. Time will tell…

Ruth

26th September 202526th September 2025

Photo Blog: September 2025

September is a beautiful time of year. We’ve had the first snow on the plateau and lovely autumnal sunny days. The odd soggy day too, of course! The reindeer look fantastic with fully grown antlers and fresh winter coats growing through.

We’ve been doing lots of free range missions to bring in the cows and their calves which is always fun. The bulls and cows have been stripping the velvet and getting a wee bit more feisty and hormonal in preparation for the upcoming rut. We split the first bull, Choc-ice, with a small group of girls on the 22nd – exciting times!

The calves have also been given a name but as always we don’t post any names online until our adopters have their newsletters. Maybe by next month’s photo blog!

1st of September: Cheer and her daughter Chai in the background.

1st of September: The time of year when the bulls start stripping the velvet. Here is two-year-old Limpopo looking very handsome.

3rd of September: Emmental and her calf back in the enclosure after a summer of free ranging.

3rd of September: A family portrait! Irish, his wee sister, and his mum, Helsinki. Since Helsinki has been back in our enclosure, one-year-old Irish has become rather attached to his mum again! Helsinki is very tolerant and shares her pile of food with her teenage son.

4th of September: Bordeaux and her son. These two didn’t come in for their breakfast so I got a lovely walk up Silver Mount to find them and return them to the herd. Both were completely fine and clearly just having a lie-in.

4th of September: Elbe, a twin, is looking phenomenal! He’s two years old and has a really lovely nature! We’re all very fond of him.

4th of September: Peanut’s male calf is looking great and is already quite tame.

4th of September: Two freckly white noses trying to get into the hand feed bag. Sundae on the left and Beanie on the right.

9th of September: The calves in the enclosure have quickly learnt what’s in the bags! They get allowed to feed directly from the bags which encourages them to be tamer and so they can get some extra mouthfuls without a bigger reindeer stealing it from them. Zoom and Choc-ice are circling the bags like piranhas!

10th of September: One of our gorgeous calves. This wee one belongs to Hopscotch.

10th of September: Glacée and her daughter. She’s done so well as a first time mum!

11th of September: Lotti and Kate feeding the herd.

11th of September: Moving some of our free rangers from outside the cafe on Cairngorm Mountain! Sunflower, Fika and Solero are the three closest to camera. Fika and Solero are stripping the velvet from their antlers.

15th of September: Old girl Ryvita on a very soggy day. She’s now back out free ranging but came into the enclosure for a few days for a health check and vaccination. She’s looking great for 16!

16th of September: Brie posing beautifully on a lovely autumnal morning.

16th of September: The calves are allowed to feed from the bags before we put it out on the ground for everyone else. You can see the older reindeer lurking around the edge and Cameron and Kate on guard duty!

17th of September: Amazon is now two years old. Her mum Dante is just behind.

17th of September: Christie has done it again! She looks phenomenal and has produced yet another lovely, chilled-out wee dude!

18th of September: Jimmy looking very handsome.

22nd of September: Winnie looking gorgeous in the beautiful autumnal light! She was hand reared in 2023 and has come back into the hill enclosure after almost a year out free ranging looking amazing!

23rd of September: Morven and her calf. Both have ridiculous antlers!

24th of September: Marple and calf. Her calf has turned into a greedy food monster!

26th of September: After a week in our Paddocks Dr Seuss is now back in the hill enclosure ready for the 11am Hill Trip and hand feeding!

Ruth

6th June 20255th June 2025

Reindeer migration

As the seasons change and we transition from spring into summer our female reindeer will start to move from the lower grounds where they have spent most of the winter, higher onto the hills. This is partly to stay cool as the weather will warm up but also to follow the grazing. In the middle of the winter there will be more snow higher on the hills, meaning further for the reindeer to dig but in the summer the tops of the hills are where the best grazing is.

*Waving the cows and calves off to spend the summer free-ranging.*

For our reindeer this migration may be only a few miles but across the world, reindeer and caribou (which are genetically the same as reindeer but haven’t been domesticated) migrate long distances. In fact, caribou hold the record for the longest land migration of any animal, migrating a whopping 2,000 miles between their summer and winter-feeding grounds. The equivalent records are held by the humpback whale with the longest migration through water of 5,000 miles and the arctic tern with the longest migration through the air with a mind boggling 18,000 miles.

*Long Distance Migration (Varpe and Bauer).*

2,000 miles is still an incredibly long way and takes the caribou first to their spring calving grounds near the coast. The spring calving grounds are highly fertile, providing lots of food for the new mums and free of predators, which is important as the young are born. This sounds like the ideal location to spend the summer and perhaps it would be if it wasn’t for the swarms of mosquitoes that arrive at the start of the summer. These mosquitoes, as well as the warmer weather, drive the caribou to migrate higher onto the hills. They spend the summer grazing on a plethora of different plants and lichens. Summer is a time of abundance in the arctic and sub-arctic regions.

*Lace and Ryvita free ranging in the Cairngorms.*

With long hours of light, the plants grow quickly, and the reindeer will graze on over 200 different species. This allows the reindeer calves to grow quickly, before the winter. It also allows bulls, cows and calves to all grow a set of antlers. The antlers grow over roughly 5 months and can reach a massive size. The largest set we’ve had in our herd weighed 8.9kg for the pair. It is also important that reindeer gain weight in the summer in order to survive the harsh winter.

*Christie’s calf, Espresso, Christie and Borlotti enjoying the best of the summer grazing on the plateau.*

*Glacée and Dante looking fantastic at the end of a summer of free-ranging.*

As autumn approaches the reindeer will migrate yet again. As the temperature drops, there will be less to eat high on the hills so the reindeer will move to the lower hills in search of better grazing. It is also the time of year that the mushrooms emerge so many of the reindeer will come into the edge of the woodland to forage mushrooms. They eat many varieties, but the boletus family are their favourite.

In our herd the female reindeer spend the summer months free-ranging and the males spend it in our hill enclosure. This means there is another drive for the females to come to the lower slopes and into the hill enclosure, the boys! The cows know that the rut is held in our hill enclosure each year so when their hormones tell them it’s time to find a mate, they know where to come!

The migration of the Cairngorm reindeer may be much smaller than reindeer and caribou elsewhere, but it is equally important. It allows the reindeer to move to the best location for each season, following where the best food and climate is.

Lotti

14th March 202513th March 2025

How does a reindeer keep warm in the winter?

Each winter, when the temperature drops, and we start reaching for our big coats and gloves. It always amazes me how comfortable the reindeer are in these conditions. It’s not a surprise really, being an arctic animal, they have evolved to cope with some of the coldest temperatures on the planet. Reindeer don’t show physiological signs of being cold until -35°C and have been known to survive right down to -72°C in Siberia. So how do they do it? I thought I would write a blog describing some of their incredible adaptations that keep them snug in the winter.

Coats

Reindeer have an incredibly insulative coat with hairs all over their body, in their ears, up their noses, between their toes. The only part of a reindeer without hair is their eyeballs! Their winter coat is so insulative that they lie on the snow without melting it. Their winter coat is formed of two layers, long guard hairs with a fine downy layer underneath. The long guard hairs are all hollow, with a honeycomb structure inside trapping pockets of warm air – an excellent insulator. They are also triangular allowing them to fit closely together without gaps to let the cold in.

*Peanut lying down in the snow. In their winter coat, reindeer are so well insulated that they lie on snow without melting it.*

Clicking

A question that we are regularly asked on Hill Trips is: what noise does a reindeer make? In the spring mothers and calves call out to each other by grunting and in the rut a bull reindeer will grunt to his females. During the winter though, reindeer don’t make many vocal noises. Instead, they make a clicking noise. This comes from a tendon sliding over a bone in their back legs with every step they take. This allows the reindeer to stay together as a herd during a blizzard when they can’t see each other without having to vocally call out to each other, which would lose body heat.

*Herd of reindeer keeping their eyes closed during a blizzard.*

Nose

Reindeer noses are amazing, definitely one of my favourite reindeer adaptations for the cold. During the winter time, reindeer generally keep their mouths closed, keeping the heat in, and instead breath through their noses. Inside their noses are amazing scroll structures which increase the surface area between the cavities where the air they are breathing in and the air they are breathing out are stored. This means heat exchange can occur and the air they are beathing out can warm the air they are breathing in, essential when the outside air is well into the minuses. Back in 2018, Ruth wrote a fantastic blog explaining in detail how amazing the nose of a reindeer is, it is well worth a read for more information, click here to see!

Feet

Reindeer have huge feet which serves two purposes: snowshoes and snow shovels. By being so big it spreads their weight out on the snow, stopping them sinking too far into the snow. Their back feet also step into the prints of their front feet and they will move as a herd in a single file line, stepping in the prints of the first reindeer, this makes walking through snow incredibly efficient. Sometimes when it’s really snowy here, we put out skis on to go and find the reindeer, in that case they will walk in our ski tracks instead. They can also their feet as big shovels to dig through the snow. Reindeer can smell lichen through a meter of snow and will dig through the snow to get to it.

*Lotti on skis with the herd following in her ski tracks.*

Antlers

Last but certainly not least…. antlers! Antlers are absolutely amazing and definitely could be an entire blog by themselves (in fact I have linked some previous blogs about antlers below). They are made of bone and grow and fall off again every year and then regrow the following year. They grow each year during the spring and summer, and whilst the bone is growing it is encased in a specialised skin called velvet. The velvet provides the blood supply that feeds the bone as the antler is growing. Once they finish growing, the velvet strips off and the antlers can then be used as weapons! The males use them to fight with each other during the rutting season over the right to breed with the females. Once the rut is over, their antlers will fall off, they are too heavy on the males to keep them all winter. Our heaviest set weighed a whopping 8.9kg. So, what do antlers have to do with the cold? Well, during the winter, once the males have lost their antlers it’s only the females and the calves who still have them. This gives the females a physical advantage whilst they are pregnant and makes sure they get plenty of food to eat during the harshest time of the year. The females loose them too, in the spring, as the new antler grows through underneath.

*Sherlock, who in March had not only lost his previous antlers but had also started to grow his new antlers already!*

Lotti

17th January 202516th January 2025

A cold start to January 2025

For all of the UK, 2025 started with a cold snap and in many places lots of subsequent snow. In the Cairngorms we were treated to about 10 days of beautiful snowy weather and temperatures down to about -17. Luckily reindeer are so well adapted to the cold, that they don’t even feel the cold at -17, instead they actively enjoy cold weather in the winter. Here is a photo blog showing some of the beautiful snow days that we have had recently.

*Nuii, Peanut’s daughter, a firm favourite amongst the herders.*

*The last Hill Trip of the year walking down to the reindeer.*

*Glacée and the rest of the herd walking out to the free-range.*

*Maisie, Andi and Lotti after letting the reindeer out to free-range for the rest of the winter.*

*Lisette and Cameron leading Frost and Mr Whippy off the hill to go and free-range at our second base.*

*Reindeer calves running through the snow for their food!!!*

*Sheena, Cameron and Amy on the way back home from a snowy reindeer feed!*

*And finally, here is a photo from the next day! With the snow almost entirely gone, what a difference in 24 hours.*

Lotti

6th December 20244th December 2024

Amy’s Photo Blog

Much to Ruth’s despair I am not the best herder when it come to taking pictures of our days on the hill and I most often forget! So, I’ve accumulated a blog of some pictures that I’ve snapped over the last year and will have to apologise in advance as the reindeer sometimes aren’t the main focus.

10^th January 2024 – Sheena and Ruth on the winter free range looking towards the Northern Corries (waiting for reindeer) where we enjoyed the most beautiful winter sun.

Borlotti on the same day (10^th of January).

Morven again on the same day, it was a good un!

As some of you guys will know through the winter our Hill Trips head out to see the reindeer whilst they’re out on the mountains “free ranging” and part of our job in the morning is to hike out to the herd and move them closer so our visitors don’t have to walk as far. Here’s a few pictures from a couple of those outings.

Over this week, the reindeer were frequenting the same spot so there were a few mornings we walked out to the same spot looking for the herd. Moments before the first image, Ruth and I were at a loss as we were sure that we should have been in the spot that the reindeer were meant to be and still couldn’t see them.

Retrieval mission of the free rangers for the Hill Trip. I was amazed here at how comfortable the reindeer were on such a steep icy slope in crazy winds – 8^th of March 2024.

Free range retrieval mission for the Hill Trip – Merida walking towards the camera – 13^th March 2024.

There is quite a large jump now to the next picture which was taken in August. During the end of the summer, we keep an eye out for cows and calves that are coming down off the mountain after free ranging. The next picture was taken whilst we were moving a small group closer to our hill enclosure.

15^th August 2024 – Cows and calves are returning from the summer free range like Flax and Camomile here.

It’s not all about reindeer we try to get creative for birthday cards too! Ginger posing to be incorporated in Sheena’s birthday – 25^th of August 2024.

At the end of the summer, we also try to catch up with the older cows too, who often are found in smaller groups. During this “free range” mission I was able to catch up with retirees Hobnob and Fern.

28^th of August – Hobnob looking good with lots of lichen beneath her feet!

28^th of August – Fern, the current oldest reindeer in our herd at 16.5 years old!

Kernel was one of the first bulls to strip his velvet which was a gruesome sight. In the second picture you can see Kernel and Jimmy having a ‘play’ spar with freshly stripped antlers. You can also see how quickly the velvet falls off the antlers as the first picture was taken in the morning and the second on the afternoon Hill Trip of the same day.

31^st of August – Kernel beginning to strip the velvet.

Later the same day – Kernel and Jimmy sparring mid Hill Trip.

1^st of September – Enjoying some time with the dream team Alba and Winnie after one of our Hill Trips. Here’s Winnie looking lovely as ever.

1^st of September – and here’s Alba with a mucky nose!

5^th of September – Holy Moley in the process of stripping her velvet and has decided to accessorise.

12^th of September – Like mother, like son. Helsinki and Irish enjoying a snooze after one of our Hill Trips.

14^th of September – I headed out to see if any other cows and calves had joined up with a group of females that we were monitoring out on the free range, and found Florence and her son, Cuppa. They were the last pair to come back into our enclosure after free ranging.

11^th of October – The rut has started, and we have Kernel here with some of his girls. At the front is Glacée.

Amy

8th November 20247th November 2024

Catching Coffee

All summer our cows and calves free-range in the Cairngorms. Finding all the best spots to graze and generally keeping themselves to themselves. At the end of the summer, the temperature starts to drop on the tops of the hills, this brings the reindeer lower down and coincides with us bringing the cows and calves back into the enclosure. We bring them in partly so we can train the calves, who are now 3-4 months old and so we can bring the females in for the rut, which is held in the hill enclosure.

For many of the reindeer, bringing them in consists of spying a group of them on the lower slopes of Cairngorm. Calling them, catching a couple of the adults and walking them into the enclosure with any calves following through the gate. For a few of the reindeer things are a little trickier. Some of them walk off the hills into different glens and have to be fetched in Brenda, our livestock truck. If these groups are adults then it is easy enough to catch them and walk them into the truck to bring them home again. Sometimes though, the group includes calves, who are not yet halter trained. That’s when things get a little trickier.

In this case our group consisted of almost all adults apart from Beanie’s calf, who we have named Coffee. I had seen Beanie and Coffee earlier in the week and he had been very shy (fair enough having not seen many people all summer), he hadn’t wanted to follow Beanie and the other reindeer that I had haltered up and eventually I had let Beanie go so that she could go and find Coffee. I knew that catching him would need a bit of patience.

*Beanie and Coffee with Tap and Sundae behind*, on the day that Coffee did not want to follow!

*Northern white-tailed bumblebee on a Devil’s Bit Scabious flower.*

I headed out into the hills, up through the woodland (passing this beautiful bumble bee who I thought deserved a mention) and managed to find the group of reindeer. Ironically Gaelic name of the hill I found them on translates as the ‘hill of the gathering’. I was delighted to see that the entire group were very friendly and greedy, setting a good example to young Coffee. I knew I had a good couple of hours to win him over before Ruth and Isla could come out to meet me and help with the actual catching as they were currently taking the morning hill trip. That left me with a very wonderful job, hang out with a lovely herd of reindeer, eat my lunch and generally try to be calm and approachable.

Darling feasting on lots of lovely lichen. Coffee lurking behind!

Lotti and Coffee who was slowly becoming braver!

Isla sitting patiently whilst Lotti and Ruth catch Coffee.

For the first hour or so, Beanie and the other greedy girls were at my side at all times. Coffee stayed within view but a good distance away. Over the next couple of hours he got closer and closer until he was within a couple of feet of me, he even started kicking my rucksack at one point. Rude!

Fairly soon after this a hill walker came past and chatted to me, Coffee ran off at first but then fairly quickly re-appeared clearly realising that he wasn’t a threat – all great desensitisation. Next, Ruth and Isla both arrived. Again Coffee was a little unsure at first, but very quickly came back over to investigate. Ruth managed to hide her body behind Beanie and get a hold of the Coffee’s back leg, after which I was able to put a halter on him. Inevitably, Coffee was pretty unimpressed at first and spent the first few minutes pulling on the rope. He walked him off the hill along with Beanie and 4 other young females. By the time we had reached the woodland, he was munching away on mushrooms and seemed to mostly have forgotten about the halter around his face.

Isla with two single cows and Lotti behind with Beanie and Coffee.

We drove the reindeer back to Glenmore and walked him up to our hill enclosure which is where he is just now still. It can be a bit of a baptism of fire catching a calf out on the hill like that but doesn’t affect their training. Coffee has spent the last couple of months in our hill enclosure getting tamer and tamer and more recently, has been halter trained properly. If you’d like to read back on how we halter train our calves, then read this blog, written way back in 2015.

Lotti