Tag: Holy Moley

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A busy day on the hill

Yesterday was one of the best sorts of reindeer herding days, almost entirely spent on the hill. Me and Fiona were due to help Tilly in the middle of the day, so we set off early to find the reindeer here on Cairngorm in the morning. The reindeer certainly made us work hard that morning as they were very high on the hill at roughly 950metres elevation, meaning we set straight off into a 400m climb! It was a windy day, and we had to pause a few times on route to brace ourselves as the gusts buffeted us. We could see the reindeer for much of the walk, and once we reached the same height as them, they were just the other side of a snow-covered burn. To save having to find a human suitable crossing, we called the reindeer to us, and they expertly navigated crossing the snow.

Lapsang and Latte digging the front of their hooves into the snow.
Video of reindeer crossing the snow.
Morven and Borlotti looking majestic.

The final section of snow that they had to cross was quite steep and it was amazing to see them jab the front points of their hooves, very purposefully into the snow. They looked like four legged mountaineers and used their front points much in the same way humans use crampons. It always amazes me to see how comfortable the reindeer are in difficult conditions that require us humans to have huge amounts of equipment and training to cope with. Fiona led the reindeer down to our chosen visit spot for the day and I had the lovely job of walking behind the reindeer. This can sometimes be a challenging job requiring lots of encouragement to keep the dawdlers at the back of the group moving. Yesterday though, the reindeer were moving well so I simply had the pleasure of moving with the herd.

Walking behind the herd.
Holy Moley keeping an eye on me.
Chai keeping me company at the back of the group.

Once we had fed the herd, we headed down the hill and drove over to help Tilly. At the moment half of our herd are free ranging on the hills in the Glenlivet estate, above our second base. Tilly had already got a big group of the reindeer into the coral, and we had the task of checking their temperatures and sorting some of the reindeer into different groups. We like to do regular temperature checks as it can give us an indication that a reindeer is unwell, before they are showing any other symptoms. By doing regular temperature checks it also means they are very used to the process, don’t find it in anyway stressful. In fact, yesterday many of the reindeer stood for us to take their temperatures without anyone even holding them.

Tilly and Fiona with a group of reindeer in the corral.
A non-reindeer photo but I thought this display of lichen on one of the farm vehicles was particularly beautiful.

Once we came off the hill, we drove back to Reindeer House for our last reindeer related job of the day. Three of our cows and calves had been free-ranging in Tilly’s group for the first part of the winter, we had then brought them back to join the herd on Cairngorm and Fiona, Ruth and I walked them back to meet the herd. Thankfully the herd hadn’t moved too far, we led the girls and let their calves follow them. As we were leaving the carpark we met a group who had spent the day learning winter skills, they professed that seeing the reindeer was the highlight of their day! Well done girls!! We then walked off the hill for the final important task of the day, a cuppa tea!

Fiona and Ruth leading Feta and Christie back to the herd, I was leading Beanie, and you can see her calf, Coffee in the right of the photo.

Lotti

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Photo Blog: February 2025

February has been a great month as we moved into our NEW Reindeer Centre. We opened the doors to the public on the 8th of February for the very first time – hoorah!

The Hill Trips have been running as normal every day (apart from one where we had to cancel due to wild weather!) and we’ve been taking visitors to the free ranging herd here on Cairngorm. We’ve also had reindeer on display in the Paddocks for the February half-term holidays. The entire herd is now back out free ranging in the hills, split between two locations. I love this time of year – getting out to see the reindeer in their mountain home every day is an absolute privilege.

Here’s a selection of photos just taken on my phone over the last month.

7th of February: Feeding the herd with Sheena and Hen, look at that lovely blue sky. We took four reindeer down off the hill and into our Paddocks where they stayed for a few days for the start of the February half-term.
8th of February: A big occasion – Tilly cutting the red ribbon opening our brand-new Reindeer Centre.
8th of February: Helsinki and her son Irish relaxing.
11th of February: Gorgeous Fern! The oldest reindeer in the entire herd. She’ll turn 18 in the spring and definitely deserves spoiling. You can see the evidence on her nose!
11th of February: A lovely pic of Fern and Andi.
12th of February: Moving the herd in to position ready for a Hill Trip. Emmental and Borlotti at the front.
13th of February: Trilby looking beautiful on a sunny day!
14th of February: Holy Moley posing for a photo whilst the others eat on the line. On Hill Trips, she often justs waits for the handfeed and doesn’t bother with the food on the ground!
14th of February: Vanilla coming in to see if there’s any more food on offer.
17th of February: Helsinki and her son Irish… again. They’re a very sweet pair!
18th of February: Emmental leading the herd to the Hill Trip location.
19th of February: Macchiato and a beautiful sky behind!
20th of February: Alba, one of our hand-reared calves from 2023, out free ranging and doing incredibly well! We’re very proud of her!
20th of February: Moving ther herd on a very windy and wild day!
23rd of February: The Hill trip was cancelleld as the weather was WILD! So here’s a pic from the Paddocks. Dr Seuss looking very relaxed.
25th of February: The lovely Winnie, like Alba, she was hand-reared in 2023.
26th of February: Lolly.
26th of February: These two are aleays stuck together like glue, Florence and her wee boy Cuppa.
27th of February: Latte and her mum Brie.
28th of February: Emm at the back of the herd doing a super job getting them moving.

Ruth

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Differences and similarities between Highland cattle and reindeer: part 1

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.

Stay tuned for part 2 next week…!

Lisette

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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.

10th 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 (10th 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 – 8th of March 2024.
Free range retrieval mission for the Hill Trip – Merida walking towards the camera – 13th 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.

15th 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 – 25th 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.

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

31st of August – Kernel beginning to strip the velvet.
Later the same day – Kernel and Jimmy sparring mid Hill Trip.
1st 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.
1st of September – and here’s Alba with a mucky nose!
5th of September – Holy Moley in the process of stripping her velvet and has decided to accessorise.
12th of September – Like mother, like son. Helsinki and Irish enjoying a snooze after one of our Hill Trips.
14th 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.
11th of October – The rut has started, and we have Kernel here with some of his girls. At the front is Glacée.

Amy

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Photo Blog: October 2024

October has flown by in a whirl of breeding bulls, flirting cows, busy Hill Trips with the October school holidays, and carrying huge amounts of feed on the hill to feed the high number of reindeer in the enclosure! With three breeding bulls running, plus our non-breeding group which we take our visitors to, it’s a lot of mouths to feed! We’ve also had reindeer down in the woods here in Glenmore so we can train calves to walk on a halter and we did manage a bit of sleigh training before the holidays.

The reindeeer look fantastic at this time of year with fresh winter coats and full grown antlers. Hopefully you enjoy looking through this month’s photos!

3rd of October: The gorgeous Popsicle! She is part of our non-breeding free ranging group at the moment.
3rd of October: This little lad is so bold! He belongs to Torch and often comes marching over demanding more food.
7th of October: Arta chilling out after a Hill Trip.
7th of October: Morven and her mother Spy behind. Both with very spiky antlers!
7th of October: Torch is a phenomenal mum! Here she is making sure her calf (who also features above) is looking good for our visitors.
8th of October: This little lass is getting so tame! Her mum is Cheer, who is quite a shy reindeer.
10th of October: Little and large! One year old Amazon stood next to five year old Athens.
7th of October: Breeding bull Jimmy with some of his cows behind.
9th of October: A lot of rain and a very full Allt Mor. Too wet to take and pics of reindeer today!
1th of October: Butter being led off the hill after being a main breeding bull by Andi, Fi, and Hen. He was a great bull and fairly well-behaved throughout!
14th of October: Dr Seuss feeling snoozy after a hand feeding session.
15th of October: Poirot and Clouseau having a rest together after a Hill Trip. Both born in 2018 and named after inspectors and detectives.
16th of October: Brie’s and Florence’s calves hanging out together.
19th of October: Suebi and Scully having a gentle battle.
20th of October: A very wet morning! It was so wet and windy that we brought the herd into the first part of the enclosure so our visitors didn’t have to work so far.
20th of October: The sun came out in the afternoon for a few moments – here’s Pip’s calf with her epic antlers!
21st of October: Holy Moley, HM, or Her Majesty, as she sometimes is known to the herders.
24th of October: Feeding Kernel and his girls from afar. Here they are running up to the feed line.

Ruth

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Photo Blog: September 2024

September is a beautiful time of year. The weather has been completely mixed this year – we’ve had the first snow on the plateau and then HOT summery temperatures! The reindeer also 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.

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!

I’m running away on holiday for the last week of September hence the photos stopping a wee bit early this month. I’ve selected a few more on other days to make up for it though! 😉

2nd of September: Cassie heading up to feed the free rangers, Dante looking back at the camera.
3rd of September: Out on a free range mission! Came across 6 cows all looking super! It wasn’t going to be possible to move them by myself so I called for back-up from Reindeer House. Whilst I was waiting for Lisette to get to me, Juniper and I had a little rest!
9th of September: Christie and her calf both looking great! Christie is a fairly phenomenal lass – she’s now had 4 big beautiful boys in a row and has enough extra energy to grow a super set of antlers.
9th of September: Found these three gorgeous free rangers on the road so took them up to a nice spot away so as not to cause a traffic jam! From L to R we have Borlotti, Shannon and Turtle.
11th of September: The first two faces I see on the hill – what a lovely way to start the day! Morse and Dr Seuss.
11th of September: Morven looking good after a couple of years off motherhood. She’s grown her usual lovely set of antlers and will hopefully run with a bull this autumn.
11th of September: Flax and her calf.
12th of September: Isla and Cassie feeding the calves out of the bags. We do this to give the calves an extra bit of food before the greedy adults eat it all, and also to get them nice and tame the quickest way possible!
12th of September: Flax starting to strip the velvet (see her pic from the day before!).
12th of September: Our regular volunteer Emm leading Cowboy and Mivvi back into the hill enclosure.
13th of September: Sika is 16 years old, one of the oldest in the herd. She’s never had an adopter in her life until very recently!! She’s actually very shy but in recent years has cottoned on to the contents of our white feed bags. This is her licking her lips at the very thought of it!
13th of September: Holy Moley decided to grace us with her presence. She was out free roaming but popped into the enclosure with a bunch of other cows looking for a free lunch!
13th of September: It was a busy day for me. After the morning Hill Trip I went out on a reindeer retrieval mission! This is the gorgeous Fern. She’s 17 and the current oldest member of our herd.
16th of September: Torch’s lovely calf chilling out in the sun!
16th of September: Volunteer Emm and some of lovely ‘single ladies’! Mississippi, Scully (who may be Emm’s favourite in the herd but don’t tell the others that), Zambezi, and Nuii.
17th of September: Athens looking very handsome!
17th of September: Calves feeding out of the bag at the start of a Hill Trip.
19th of September: A hot day when you’re in your winter coat! Adzuki cooling himself down by standing in a bog.
22nd of September: Christie leading the herd out of the mist. To her right is Feta’s calf and Beanie.
22nd of September: Feta’s calf is a chunky lad – he’s a lovely friendly lad.

Ruth

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Volunteer Blog: Emm’s visit – October 2023

When I arrived in October the first thing I noticed was the place was very different without Sookie as she would always greet me barking excitedly whenever I arrived at Reindeer House.

I went straight out to look for free-rangers with Ruth to make sure they weren’t on the road then went to the hill enclosure to split off the reindeer and meet the new calves and give them some preferential feed from the bag. Holy Moley was being very stubborn and other calves kept trying to get back through the gate.

Emm with Mississippi and her mum Holy Moley.

October is the rutting season and this year it involved the males Jelly and Sherlock who had their own females in different parts of the hill enclosure. The males get very boisterous and while I was there it was decided that Jelly should be taken off the hill and taken to Tilly at the farm for the safety of the other reindeer and the herders. After Jelly had been walked off the hill, I helped move some of the female reindeer around to put in with Sherlock. Kernel then came over from the farm to replace Jelly and was much better behaved for the remainder of the rut.

I was able to meet Winnie and Alba the hand-reared calves who were bottle-fed three times a day and remained on the hill. I was lucky enough to feed them a few times. They were very excited and would run over when we got the bottles out. Popsicle was thought to be underweight so we gave her a special feed and I had to give that to her and keep off the others who wanted to get into the bag. Another day we checked over the reindeer that had been with Jelly and took their temperatures.

Emm getting to know Alba.
Alba and Winnie – both incredibly laid-back lassies!

Holy Moley kept following me around and Mekong kept licking my coat which was very funny. I had seen Cicero licking a tree as it was covered in lichen earlier. When Sheena brought the free-rangers down later we saw some who had not been seen for a few months. We were always moving the reindeer around and Druid, Danube and Mekong were taken from the Paddocks to the hill enclosure. Lotti, Isla, and I took them and I led Druid. Lotti was on dog watch at the front of the group. One really interesting fact I found out was that Danube was Brie’s calf from this year and she had calved on her own on the free-range as no-one knew she was pregnant and it was a big surprise when she turned up with Danube later in the summer. Luckily she was fine and it shows how tough the reindeer are in their natural environment.

Cicero enjoying the lichen on a Scots pine.

On one Hill Trip we went to the enclosure to find only 22 reindeer with 12 missing. We had to go round after the visitors had gone to see who was missing and found 10 of them but Lotti eventually found the rest of them and some had been “flirting” with Sherlock near his part of the enclosure. At times I was able to spend time enjoying chilling with the main group in the enclosure. It was lovely to see Winnie and Alba very relaxed with visitors lying down and falling asleep.

The free-rangers would often appear and on one occasion they all turned up at the enclosure gate so we had to move them away as it was not their time to be in the hill enclosure. Another day we spotted some of the free-rangers on the road so Ruth went up and we could see her leading them away with the bag of food to keep them safe.

Christmas sleigh training was well underway and we had Poirot, Druid, Haricot, Olympic and two calves, Danube and Mekong. It was only Haricot’s third time pulling the sleigh and he was as good as gold. The experienced reindeer like Poirot were showing the others what to do. They were warmed up by walking and jogging them up to Glenmore Visitor Centre and back, then harnessed up and walked with two pulling from the front and two at the back with two calves. We went to Glenmore Campsite and back and I got chance to ride in the sleigh. We switched the reindeer over and did it again.

Haricot and Olympic pulling the sleigh with Emm enjoying the ride.
Emm leading Hemp and Adzuki off the hill.

A few days later we moved some reindeer around bringing Adzuki and Hemp down for sleigh training. It was their first time and they joined Poirot and Aztec who were the experienced ones who showed the others what to do. We went on the road to the Pine Marten Bar and back and all the reindeer including the new ones were superstars. There were amazed looks on people driving past in their cars but the traffic such as a bus and a lorry didn’t seem to bother them. I had the chance to be guiding the sleigh from the back and we were watching out for dogs all the time. We had to make sure we poo picked the path and car park afterwards and this was my job. A few days later with Amy and Cameron we took reindeer Adzuki, Clouseau with calves Darling and Orinoco on a walk to the Pine Marten bar. This was important to get them used to walking with a head collar on. The two experienced reindeer were showing them how. Again many surprised people in cars slowed down to look and it was funny when a bus driver stopped the bus to meet the reindeer and have a photo. I was walking at the front to make sure the cars slowed down.

Emm with Hemp at the back of the sleigh. Emm’s role at the back of the sleigh is to help push it up hill (although the front reindeer should do this!) and most importantly be the brakes on a down hill!

I was able to catch up with the dogs again and since we were last there Tuva, Tilly’s dog, had had five puppies who were all at Reindeer House and I was able to play with them, cuddle up and they all fell asleep on me. I also had a lovely time with Tilly’s grandchildren Marley and Hamish in the Paddocks doing the elf hunt and making antlers. The puppies were on a hard feed mix which we fed them and they were still suckling from Tuva.

A very important job – puppy sitting!
Emm and five sleeping puppies!

There were lots of other jobs with Brenda the van full of food ingredients from the farm to unload it and fill back up to return to the farm with food scraps for the pigs, new stock was in the shop with rulers, pencil cases, teddies and notepads so these had to be sorted out so I was kept busy.

It was very, very wet when we were there and there was some heavy rain so much so that on one occasion there was flooding in Aviemore with the  main road closed over the bridge. We had to delay one of the Hill Trips that day to allow people to arrive. There were lots of lovely rainbows when the sun did come out.

Emm had a very rainy week but being the optimist she is was able to enjoy the rainbows!

I had a great time as usual this year and it was so special to catch up with my lovely friends all the herders, meet lots of different people on the trips, meet all the new dogs and of course catch up with all the reindeer most of all. I can’t wait till my next visit.

Emm and one of Tuva’s pups!

Emm

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Photo Blog: March 2024

March has been a good month on the whole. The reindeer have all been roaming freely over two sites. Here on Cairngorm, we’ve been running our daily Hill Trips at 11am each morning. At the beginning of a work day we divide the duties up and generally we all take it in turns to either head out to find the reindeer and move them to a suitable location for the Hill Trip or we take the Hill Trip itself. I complained at the start of this month that I wasn’t feeling as fit as I usually am at this time of year as the reindeer have been sticking relatively close by meaning the morning walk out has been easy. Maybe they heard me, as for a good few weeks this month the reindeer became deaf to our calls and made us walk right up to them which gave me the workout I was looking for, especially when they decided to hang out at a height of around 900m each night. They usually don’t start being that sluggish until we approach the end of April and the pregnant females start showing their wide bellies. That being said, when we finally get to them, it always impresses me how willing they are to do as we ask. I’ve had some super mornings out with the herd this month and hopefully this will you give you a taste of it!

1st of March: Sorbet having a lie-down after a Hill Trip. She’ll be two in the spring, and her cheeky character is really starting to shine.
2nd of March: Holy Moley in the snow, posing like the TV star she is!
3rd of March: Feta with antlers! Since this photo was taken she’s cast them and are sadly yet to be found.
7th of March: One of the twins! This is Elbe, since he’s cast his wee antlers he looks remarkably like his twin sister Alba and I often have to do a double take.
8th of March: The herd were very high up this morning, making me and Amy walk all the way up to them, pretending they couldn’t hear us calling them for breakfast. You can just see Amy gently pushing them from the back as I’m at the front doing my best to lure them downhill.
12th of March: This time I’m ‘sheepdog’ at the back of the herd today whilst Cassie leads from the front as we get them into position for our 11am Hill Trip.
13th of March: 10-month-old calf Mekong with her lovely big ears and extra fuzzy face.
14th of March: Building work update – the gabion baskets are now in place.
17th of March: Pinto leading the herd, with her daughter Orinoco following just behind.
19th of March: The herd in the distance moving (incredibly slowly) to our call. Cameron and I still had to walk out most of the way to them so we didn’t miss out out on our morning walk.
19th of March: Nuii and her wonderful billowing beard! Nuii will be 2 years old in the spring but she’s so dinky she often gets mistaken for a calf.
21st of March: Feeding the herd underneath a rainbow.
22nd of March: Shannon and her mum Cheer. 10-month-old Shannon is a very greedy young lass and loves her food, however Cheer is one of the shiest members of our entire herd. Shannon therefore appears rather torn between her love of feed and her desire to copy her mum! As she gets older and her confidence will grow and I’m sure her franticness around a feedbag will calm down.
25th of March (a): The free rangers were brought into the enclosure the day before so that this morning we could give everyone a routine health check and some of the herd a vaccination. This is Lolly and mum Oatcake leading the way down to breakfast after their temperature checks.
25th of March (b): A trip to the farm in Glenlivet to help Tilly out give the reindeer there a routine health check. The reindeer looking at the camera is Cicero. It was great to see some of the boys again!
26th of March: Lace already beginning to grow her antlers – go Lace!
26th of March: The herd were remarkable unfazed by their vaccinations so Andi and I let them out of the enclosure to go free roaming again – here’s Gloriana and old girl Fern leading the way. Fern looking amazing for almost 17!
27th of March: Winter returns! Feeding the calves out of the bag to give them a wee bit of an extra boost.
28th of March: Sundae pleading with me for more food – she makes it hard to resist.

Ruth

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Photo Blog: February 2024

We reopened to the public on the 10th of February. With no Paddocks and Exhibition available (the site is currently a very big hole) it feels rather strange! But the Hill Trips are running as usual, in fact for the February half term we brought some of our free ranging cows and nine month old calves in to our hill enclosure allowing us to do two Hill Trips a day. So, we’ve been busy looking after our the herd in the enclosure and checking in with the free rangers once every few days. February has so far been rather mild so far with not very much snow so we’ve been having a relatively easy time, and the reindeer are finding easy grazing. We’ll be back to free range visits very soon (Monday 26th Feb) so if anyone is visiting us between now and the end of April be prepared for potentially much longer walks out to find the herd.

1st of February: Andi surrounded by some of our wonderful reindeer calves.
1st of February: Colorado the cutie!
7th of February: Repairing a fence at the top of our hill enclosure that got ripped up by a recent storm. Cameron is stood by the hole where the strainer post in the foreground should have been!
8th of February (a): Lotti and I head out to bring in the free ranging herd to our hill enclosure ready for the half term school holidays. Here’s Morven leading the way.
8th of February (b): Trying my best to woo the herd across the burn. I can confirm the burn was higher than the height of my wellies.
8th of February (c): Lace was the first to cross the burn with her calf Limpopo at her side. Thank you Lace for being a great leader! The herd were quick to follow her and then marched up this hill that we affectionately call Killer Hill.
11th of February: Holy Moley showing off her lovely incisors!
14th of February: After a day in the enclosure these reindeer are off back out free roaming. From L to R we’ve got Sorbet, Feta, Pip, Danube, Colorado (and his mum Christie just poking her head out behind) and Elbe.
15th of February: Sundae being cute as ever on a very dreich Hill Trip.
16th of February: Amazon saying hello.
16th of February: The state of the Paddocks just now.
20th of February: A recent storm blew down (another) fence within the enclosure. Here’s the delivery of new posts ready for for work to commence.
22nd of February: We did a enclosure swap. These are the girls who’ve been in the hill enclosure for a wee while now heading back out to free roam with Fiona leading the way.
22nd of February: Our wonderful volunteer Emm is back and has brought the sun with her. All the herders are delighted to see her, and so is Feta!

Ruth

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Seasonal Volunteer to Seasonal Herder

Editor’s note: The lovely Hannah wrote this blog when she was here back in August 2023 but I have only just found it lurking in a folder on the computer. Sorry Hannah! Read Hannah’s first blog here about her time volunteering with us here: Hannah’s Volunteer Blog – The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd. And then try to imagine you’re reading this current one in the warm summer month of August!

The herd within the hill enclosure – August 2023.

It’s hard to believe that it’s only been a year since I was up on the hill – it always feels far too long! As usual I signed up for my now annual volunteering stint and was met with an even better offer to come and help for three weeks rather than one! Obviously, this was too good an opportunity to pass up and I quickly abandoned my long-suffering partner (and our impending house move) to come and stay at Reindeer House for the month!

A lot can change in a year – last July I was hand rearing Sunny, now one of our yearlings and a fully-fledged reindeer – antlers and all! My hand rearing days were not over, though – as we had two new calves to meet – Winnie and Alba! Being resident in Reindeer House means extra quality time with these two lovely girls, including late night feeds and mornings taking them up the hill. It’s been amazing watching them progress even over the past few weeks, gaining weight as they should and spotting some antlers beginning to appear.

Hannah and Sunny in July 2022.
Sunny all grown up in July 2023.
Winnie and Alba, our hand-reared calves in August 2023.

I’ve been lucky enough to come at a different point of the year which has included adventures with the free ranging females and tracking the discovery of new calves flourishing out on the hills. Having not had much time with our girls, being mostly a summer presence, it was great to finally put faces to the names of the lovely females I have heard so much about and meet some of their new arrivals.

Hannah on the right helping out with harness training with Andi and Hen – August 2023.
Hannah taking her very own Hill Trip and doing a totally superb job!
Meeting some of the free ranging cows.
Catching up with the calves who were born in May – here’s Holy Moley and calf who we later named Mississippi.

I count myself very lucky to have quadrupled my usual stint here and be a part of the team. Hopefully the next bit of time goes speedily, and I’ll be back out on the hill before I know it!

Hannah

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