mountains - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

15th May 202620th May 2026

Free – range season of 2026 comes to an end…

Since the first week of January, our wonderful herd of reindeer have been out free – ranging the mountains. Our females and smaller male calves from last Spring roamed the hills here in the Cairngorms, while our males, bigger male calves and their mums free roamed the hills not too far from our farm. Free – range season is a chance for all our reindeer to enjoy the good grazing and open plains of the sub-arctic tundra we find ourselves in here, and to grab a well earned rest after our busy Christmas season.

Free – ranging season provides the most stunning views of the reindeer with the backdrop of the beautiful Cairngorm mountains.

It’s also a fantastic time of year for us herders, getting to move the reindeer around the hills every morning, and take guests out to see them in their natural habitat with no fences. So, as free – range season draws to a close for 2026, it’s time to look back on our herders favorite moments.

Can you spot the herder amongst the herd?…

Lotti

Looking back over the last few months, one morning fetching the reindeer immediately sprung to mind as a highlight. To set the scene, the previous day, Andi and I had fetched the reindeer for the morning visit, and both agreed that the reindeer had been slower and more difficult to herd than either of us had EVER seen! Fast forward to the following day, I was feeling tired and whilst the morning walk out to find the reindeer is usually my favourite job, after the day before I was quite happy to do a hill trip instead. But alas, it was not meant to be. As it turned out Daisy was the only herder with enough beans to volunteer to walk out to find the reindeer. At this time of year it takes two of us, one at the front and one at the back, so reluctantly I joined her.

Poor Daisy had to cope with a distinct lack of enthusiasm from me on the walk out which finished with an uphill, off path trudge through the snow. When we reached the top of the hill though, we were greeted with the most wonderful sight, the herd on a snowy hillside with the beautiful mountains of the Cairngorm’s behind them. I have lived and worked here for a wee while, but a view like this still has the ability to take my breath away – I hope that never changes.

Of course, on that day the reindeer were good as gold, and we had the most wonderful time walking them in. I often find that the days when I’m feeling less joie de vivre than usual are the days that the reindeer and the mountains really show off and have the ability to completely change my mood. I couldn’t wipe the grin off my face for the rest of the day!

Orinoco leading the herd across the snowy hillside.

Amy

My favorite day from this winter free range was collecting the reindeer at the start of March. Myself and Hen had walked out to where the reindeer where and it was decided that I would be the person that would walk infront of the reindeer and lure them to the visit spot, whilst Hen would stay at the back of the herd and make sure that we didn’t leave any stragglers behind. At the front I could see that lovely Vienna was very determinedly trudging up the hill behind me, along with the sweetheart that is Ryvita, plus Christie and Cheer had taken a small group of reindeer on a questionable detour into a snowy crevice and Bordeaux was walking off very purposefully in the completely wrong direction. Given Bordeaux’s nature, it is very unusual for her to decide that she isn’t going to follow the herd, so I sat back for a brief second to see how things were going to play out and Bordeaux continued in the direction she was heading- away from myself.

Eventually, I rustled the white bag of hand-feed I was carrying to see if I could catch her attention and then it became evident that Bordeaux was confused about what direction I was going in. You could quite literally see in her face the moment she realised where I was and that I wasn’t in the direction she was expecting. I also loved the urgency she had when she walked off in the wrong direction, there was so much hope that just over the skyline she would be able to snack on some yummy handfood.

Whilst we were waiting for Bordeaux, Vienna is trying to persuade me to give up some hand feed.

Hen

My memory links directly to Amy’s, as I trailed along at the back of the herd keeping them moving in the right direction, like a sheepdog. Unfortunately my short stumpy legs cannot go uphill nearly as fast as a reindeer – or downhill, to be honest – so this role is often somewhat unneccessary when they are moving well as I’m struggling to keep up and can’t do much about stopping them going in the wrong direction anyway. On this particular day the herd had been quite hard work already, really preferring to stay put grazing, but once they were finally moving I clocked Bordeaux heading off in the wrong direction, leading multiple other reindeer with her. We were crossing a really rocky bit of ground and Amy was partway down the hill the other side already, and I remember yelling something rude at Bordeaux… Perhaps she realised at that point she was going the wrong way, or perhaps she’s well-versed in my swearing, but a minute or two later she appeared back in sight, now heading the right way…

I’m not sure this is necessarily my favourite memory, but it’s the one springing to mind right now, and the morning is one I actually have a photo from (although involving the random dog-leg of Bordeaux’s route).

Andi

My highlight of this year’s free-range season was fetching the herd from high on the mountain in a white-out, and having to use a compass bearing to navigate our way down out of the cloud – the first time in my 15 years of herding that I’ve had to rely on a compass whilst leading the herd! You will find out more about that experience in a few months time… keep following the blog!

The cows battling the high winds and snow gusts, protecting their calves in the harsh conditions.

Daisy

One of my most memorable moments from my first free-range season has to be the wild weather Saturday of moving reindeer in a blizzard! The day had started with hardly any clouds and blue skies when I first dropped Cam and Sheena off to move the reindeer that morning. But, by the time Andi, Emm and I set off for the Hill Trip, a white out blizzard had struck. I only managed to locate Cam and Sheena thanks to their bright waterproofs! As I waited for Andi, Emm and the Hill Trip guests enough snow had settled against my ski googles that I could hardly see past Juniper stood next to me. The snow was quite short lived though and the guests had the most amazing blue skies and calm breeze with a fresh layer of snow settled on the reindeer for their trip. The hills looked amazing!

After the guests had gone we had the task of moving the reindeer across flats, jump a burn, over the road, and up onto a new set of hills. We set off as the mornings blizzard returned and the winds picked up! It was my second go of leading the reindeer, and seemed quite daunting given the lack of visibility. But the combination of Andi’s hand signals from the back of the herd and Ryvita leading the charge and following my calls, meant we successfully crossed the burn and got them up onto the road. With a cluster of cars parked up in the middle of the road, everyone hanging out their windows to record the reindeer – the entire female herd of 73 steadily came into view as they ran across the road and up onto the bank of the next hill in a quick single file. I never get over how fantastic it is to see the reindeer rush over the road, and how excited all of the passing drivers are, but with the snow falling and having just herded them through a blizzard – it was pure magic. From there it was up onto the flat of the next hill and to give the reindeer some well deserved food, and then back to the centre for a hot cup of tea (and several custard creams)!

Chilling with Ryvita before the blizzard returned.

Maisy

My favourite moment in this winter free range was when Cam and I went out to fetch reindeer for the morning visit at the start of April. It was a stunner of a day with most of the snow gone which was meant to make it easy walking, however Cam decided to take us through deap heather and across a large river from the snow melt. Thank god I had my big wellies on! We headed along then up to where we thought the reindeer were. We arrived for where we last spied the herd, but they were nowhere to be seen. We had lost our 73 reindeer! I thought they had gone back the way we came, but Cam said that they probably carried on round the side of the hill. I suggested for us to split up to cover more area, so off we went in oposite directions with our walkie talkies turned on. All I could hear as I was walking back round the direction we came from was silence from Cams end. I was thinking about heading back and looking else where until I saw them! I was right. Cam was wrong… The reindeer had gone the way we wanted them to. Cam made us walk straight past them! Once Cam evantually caught me up with the reindeer (he took ages), I lead the herd up towards the visit spot (this was actually my first time leading reindeer on the free range!). Some were more enthusiastic than others to follow. We made it to the spot and awaited for Daisy’s arrival in the sun (which took longer than expected as she also got lost… what can you do?).

Can you spot Cam miles in the distance?…

Cameron

Erm… That’s not how I remember it!

Editor’s Note: This is all we could get out of Cam for his offical response.

Fiona

Being an old timer when it comes to reindeer herding I often end up leading the herd in for their morning feed rather than being the sheep dog at the back to keep them moving. This year we had a few newbies herders join our team and this was their first winter fetching reindeer so I took this on board and mostly lead the herd, even though everyone’s favourite job is at the back. At the back you just get to hang out, at a sensible pace and you don’t have to choose the route so when given the choice this is where most herders would want to be. Mid March I went out with Amy (another old timer) and this time I didn’t give her the choice, I opted for following along at the back. It was a glorious day, blue skies, sunshine and snow… Just perfect! I spent most of the time taking videos and photo’s and sending them to everyone I knew working an office job that day boasting about my morning. It’s days like this that make you forget about the wet, windy and claggy days that end up being a total mission and therefore restoring your faith in Scottish winters!

Kate

Free-range season is a real mix. The weather can be truly awful, and on days the reindeer are feeling stubborn, moving them can be a long and difficult slog. But sometimes, you get a bluebird day when the sun is out and the reindeer are hungry and cooperative, and these are some of my favourite mornings throughout the whole year. Me and ‘The Aisies’ (that’s Daisy and Maisy) headed out on a lovely blue-sky day in March to move the herd. We wouldn’t be returning by the same path, so Cam kindly dropped the morning feed at our destination (thanks, Cam!). We could see him from a distance, making his way to drop the bag. “He looks like a tick!” Daisy said. I then had to explain to her how perspective works and that things look smaller at a distance… Walking out without a heavy bag always nice. We found the herd at the crest of the hill, a few were up and picking through the snow to graze, but most were dozing in the sunshine. They were initially slow to get going, and split into two groups which can make things difficult, but having three herders is a luxury and made it much easier to keep the herd moving in the right direction. I led, the Aisies herded at the back, and we skirted around the slopes easily enough, until we hit some big snow patches and the reindeer started to pick up speed. Eventually, Emmental decided she knew exactly where we were going and passed us. The herd followed, and most of them rushed over the snow to gather ahead, where the feed was waiting. I waited for Daisy and Maisy to catch up and we enjoyed having the last few minutes of the walk to just enjoy the sunshine and chat.

A lot of our most memorable days on the free-range are the big adventures, when it’s difficult, and you feel exhausted but accomplished at the end of it, but I always love the calm mornings, when things are easy, the sun is out, and you have enough time to stop for a moment and appreciate the reindeer and the incredible place we live.

Emmental and her son, Oro, leading the herd, 7th March 2026

Sheena

I think we all love heading out to look for reindeer in the morning when they are free ranging on the high slopes of Cairngorm. My most memorable walk out this year was with Cameron, just at the end of winter start of spring. Our biggest challenge was what to wear. The weather was sunny one minute and then full on winter blizzard… So a full set of winter waterproofs, gloves, hats, hoods and last minute went back for ski goggles! We had a long walk and luckily we spotted them just before the weather changed into a white out snow storm. Goggles on time.

We had several challenging stream crossings, the first one had a big snow drift over it and was very dodgy spring soft snow, so we went for a crossing area up stream, with a good helping hand from Cameron when I jumped over, so no wet boots for me. After locating the reindeer Cameron lead the way as our plan was to move the reindeer to an area easier for our visitors on the hill trip, it took 30 mins in white out condition. Just as we got near our Hill Trip spot, we saw a hill walker on the hill path who unfortunately had a very noisey dog and, two barks later the reindeer turned on their hoofs and headed back up the hill! Luckily the sun came out, blue sky and we caught up with the herd not too much higher and changed our visit location as the weather was now sunny. It was now a safe option for our visitors. Cameron and I had a good work out and I wish I had a step counter that day – it would have been miles.

You may have caught the wonderful video of Sheena and our lovely Holy Moley post blizzard hike! If not you can watch it on our facebook page here.

Alicia

March has been my first taste of the free-range season, and thus has been host to many small ‘firsts’ for me! First time leading free-range Hill Trips, first time seeing the girls out in the mountains (leading them off the road in December doesn’t count!), first time out with radios trying to bring the girls to a nice spot for the Hill Trip in the mornings…

My favourite memory from this season was also my most trying morning. Fiona and I hiked out in the morning, braving blue skies but 30+ mph winds (which is quite a lot when you’re carrying a lot of reindeer feed on your back!). The cows and calves were happily resting in a little gully when we came upon them, and they were very much not in the mood for moving on! I was the ‘sheep-dog’ at the back of the herd trying to encourage some rather stubborn lassies on from the nice patches of lichen they had found, all the while unsuccessfully dodging boggy sections of ground. After finding a safe way to cross the river, I gave a quick celebratory ‘Yes!’, before promptly falling into a bog on my next step…

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Hope you enjoyed all our favourite moments from 2026, and here’s to free – range season 2027!

The Cairngorm Reindeer Herders

8th December 202310th March 2025

The Story of Zoom

I was over at the hill farm recently helping to feed our bulls and was pleased to see how good yearling Zoom was looking. And that reminded me that I’d promised Ruth I would write a blog telling the story of when we found him last year.

Teenage Zoom this autumn, with buddy Rocket behind him

Zoom was born on the 8th May 2022 to mum Angua, one of the shier members of the herd. He had white face markings, like dad Spartan, and in fact was almost identical to full sister Chickpea. After a couple of weeks bonding with Angua in the enclosure, the pair of them headed to the high tops of the mountains for summer.

The first photo of Zoom – taken when he was just a few hours old

We get out as often as possible over the warmer months to check on the cows and calves, but inevitably the weather and other factors sometimes get in the way of this, and as the reindeer move around a lot too we can go for weeks or months without seeing a particular individual. I saw Angua and her calf high on the mountains in mid-July – both looking very scruffy as they were moulting out their winter coat, but otherwise looking grand.

Zoom at two months old, roaming high on the mountain free-range with Angua. Both are mid-moult so look rather scruffy!

As the autumn came round, cows and calves started returning to the hill enclosure, and we went out to different areas too to fetch back some who had wandered too far. Whilst we don’t worry too much about not seeing a reindeer for a few months, by late September, the main stand out reindeer we hadn’t seen were Angua, her calf (now newly christened Zoom) and also her 2-year-old daughter Chickpea.

October rolled round and we were rushed off our feet preparing for the Adopter’s Weekend, celebrating our 70^th anniversary. Typically, it was on the Friday, the day before the weekend, when we received a phone call from a hill walker, Richard, letting us know that his group had met a lone reindeer, and it had started following them. Reindeer are a herd animal so it is unusual to find one alone, and as we knew there were very few out on the mountains, Lotti and I scrambled to head out and try to catch them. We loaded up two of our steady Christmas reindeer, Olympic and Clouseau, from the Paddocks and drove the 35 minutes or so to the walkers’ car park nearest to Richard’s location. He called to update us that he had been up near the summit but had turned round to escort the reindeer back down to meet us – “Please hurry!”.

Myself leading Clouseau and Lotti leading Olympic up on the rescue mission – look at our anticipation!

Olympic and Clouseau were delighted to be out on an adventure and we hurriedly popped their headcollars on, unloaded them and set off up the path through the forest. As we walked we debated which reindeer it could be. Richard hadn’t been able to spot an eartag, which suggested it may be a calf, but a calf was unlikely to have had enough exposure to humans to choose to follow one… We wondered how we would go about catching them too. The idea behind bringing along two tame lads was that even a shy reindeer was likely to want to come up and join other reindeer if alone, and this would hopefully give us a chance to get hold of them – sometimes this involves reaching beneath the tame reindeer’s belly to get hold of a leg, then holding on until your colleague can pop on a headcollar – not the way we’d prefer to do things but sometimes the only option. But if the lone reindeer was very wild it would be hard to get that close…

Much sooner than anticipated, we spied movement ahead, and all of our assumptions were blown out of the water. Not only was the lone reindeer in question indeed a calf, Richard was hurrying down the path literally with his arm over their neck, hand gently guiding on their shoulder. For a species that tends not to like contact, and for a calf that was basically unhandled, this was incredible! No need to worry about how we were going to catch them! We could immediately see from the white face markings and size that this was Angua’s calf, Zoom – rather scrawny and a little underweight, but otherwise looking healthy. It was a simple matter to pop a headcollar on Zoom (for the first time in his life) and after thanking Richard profusely, we headed our separate ways – us back down the track with our extra reindeer, and Richard back up the mountain.

Lotti replicating Richard’s reassuring touch, just a few minutes after first putting on Zoom’s headcollar

Reindeer usually protest a little the first time they are on a headcollar, but wee Zoom just seemed relieved to have found some friends, and Lotti & I had an easy walk back to the truck, still both astounded at the turn of circumstance. We arrived back at the Centre before the end of the day and Zoom quickly looked at home. Any adopters who visited us that weekend might have seen him, already friendly and confident. He buddied up with Sunny, who had been orphaned and hand-reared, and was often closely following Clouseau, latching onto him perhaps because he was the first reindeer he’d seen after being all alone. We joked about how Clouseau had got a calf of his own (despite being a castrate!).

Up with two, down with three – Zoom pottering along as if he’d done this all before (in reality probably just utterly relieved to be back in reindeer company)

Sadly we never saw Angua again, and the probable explanation is that she must have died at some point in the autumn, leaving poor Zoom to wander on his own. But animals are resourceful and he did exactly the right thing – putting his trust in the right kind human – thankfully Richard was good enough to get in touch with us and go out of his way to get Zoom down – we still talk of the special “Richard Ruffle” that he used to guide Zoom at his side.

Zoom settling into life with the herd on the hill… and knowing full well that he’ll get a bit of preferential treatment from us herders!

The other good news was that Zoom’s sister Chickpea made it home too, though it wasn’t for several months. There was the occasional report, and even a photo of her, at the far extent of the reindeer range, but every time we went out searching, there was no sign. Then in February, when we called in the free-ranging herd for breakfast, there she was – she’d found her own way back. She had clearly been unwell at some point – her coat was scruffy and she’d already cast her antlers – but she was otherwise her normal cheeky self.

Chickpea free-ranging this autumn – her and Zoom have almost identical markings!

2023 has been a much better year for both of them, and Zoom and Chickpea are looking fantastic.

Andi

2nd October 202013th August 2024

Reindeer love Munros!

The Reindeer love Munros! In fact, it could be said that they are our resident ‘Munro baggers’ in the Cairngorms, although, plenty of reindeer herders would also be contenders for that crown.

A ‘munro’ is any Scottish mountain above the height of 3,000 feet (914.4 metres) that has been recognised by the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC). And a ‘munro bagger’ is anyone (person, or perhaps any animal?) engaged in the activity of climbing all of the listed Munros.

The reindeer herd high up on the mountains, near the summit of Cairn Gorm

Tilly, the owner of the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd, finished climbing all of the 282 Munros in 2019 with Moskki – her dog – completing most of them alongside her. Moreover, Alan (Tilly’s husband and fellow owner of the herd) and Joe (Tilly’s possible future son-in-law…) (Editors note: Ben is solely responsible for writing this and none of the rest of us are claiming any responsibility!) are other herders who have climbed all 282 munros.

Pelting rain last November for Tilly’s 282nd munro! Photo: Nigel Housden / Pinsharpstudios

Maybe that’s why reindeer herders feel such a connection to the reindeer…they both love the high tops. The reindeer are often found around Cairn Gorm Mountain, the 6th highest of the munros. They love the cooler air and vegetation that comes with being at a higher altitude. Occasionally they stray further afield and need bringing back into the areas they’re allowed to be in, which requires us heading out into the hills and bringing them home – potentially bagging a munro en-route.

On the move, with the Ptarmigan building and Cairn Gorm in the background

The Cairngorm Mountains are blessed with many of the highest mountains in the British Isles. The second highest in the U.K. is Ben Macdui (Ben Macduibh in Gaelic), with its height recorded at 1309 metres. And the third (Braeriach), fourth (Cairn Toul), fifth (Sgor an Lochain Uaine) and sixth (Cairn Gorm) highest U.K. mountains are also located here in the Cairngorms.

As of July 2^nd 2020, 6,768 people have reported completing the round of Munros (although the SMC would rather have the spelling as ‘compleating’!). But if there was a local record for the Cairngorm Mountains, reindeer would have ‘bagged’ more than a lot of the UK population, amongst which I suspect the average climbed to be very, very small!

As a sort of epilogue, I thought it interesting that the SMC recognise six peaks in England, fifteen in Wales and thirteen in Ireland that would be classified as munros or ‘munro tops’ (a peak over 3000′, but one considered a subsidary top of a nearby munro) . That just goes to show how plentiful and large the Scottish hills are in comparison to the rest of the U.K.

Ben

2nd November 201826th July 2024

Julia’s Photos Part 2!

31/07 (1) My first day of the year going out on the free-range. A group of four females (Bumble, Okapi, Clootie and Malawi) were spotted down by the road. Another group had been spotted at the top of Cairn Gorm so the plan was to join the groups up. Chris (another herder) headed up Cairn Gorm to bring his group lower down and I took the group of four up and over Wind Ridge which connects to Cairn Gorm. My group were wonderful at following my bag of feed I was carrying, stopping every so often for a quick graze.

31/7 (2) Okapi was one of the greediest in the group and was eagerly following me the whole way up the hill. I was struck by how beautiful she appeared and her lovely nature.

31/07 (3) Behind Okapi we can see the rain cloud coming in. Thankfully the weather only changed for five minutes and soon went back to lovely sunshine.

31/07 (4) Whilst taking this photo Bumble decided to push me over in an attempt to get to the feed bag. It was my first time meeting her and it was very memorable as she is such a greedy female!

31/07 (5) The beautiful Clootie looking over the hills. We didn’t manage to join the two groups up in the end as both groups of females began to loose interest in our feedbags. More importantly though, we had managed to move the small herd away from the roads and any fast cars travelling on them. Over the course of the summer, we saw a lot more of the females and gradually got them used to following the feedbag for longer in preparation for the rutting season where they are required to follow the bag all the way down to the hill enclosure.

Julia

31st August 201823rd July 2024

A day out on the free-range

At the start of August, Lotti and myself were sent out into the mountains to see if we could find the free-ranging females and their calves. Fiona had spied a big herd from the road and thought it would be a good idea to get them to follow us for as long as possible with a bag of food, in preparation for the rutting season where the females will need to be led back into the enclosure. With our lunches packed and a bag of feed each in our rucksacks, Lottie and myself set off for a day searching for reindeer.

Lotti leading Hopscotch and her daughter Kipling, probably the greediest pair of females ever in the herd! The herd is following behind.

At the Ptarmigan restaurant, at the top of the funicular train line, we were rewarded with the sight of a large group of 20 females and two calves. Three females immediately ran over as soon as they caught sight of us removing a feed bag from Lottie’s rucksack. These turned out to be Hopscotch and her yearling Kipling. Hopscotch’s three-year-old son, Kips, is a regular on the handfeed line on hill trips and it was easy to see where he had inherited his greediness from! The third was a little reindeer called Pagan who proceed to half-heartedly shake her antlers on our legs in an effort to receive some food.

After spending lots of time with the twins, I was surprised to see how big the calves were on the free-range. Look at the size of the antlers on this calf!

With Lotti leading and myself following at the back, we managed keep the females as a group and walking for a good half hour around the plateau. We gave up when the herd started to trot off in all directions and no amount of running behind in zigzags would keep them together. We had just made the decision to put the feed out, when Lotti looked behind and discovered another large group of twentyish females had joined us! After putting a long line of food, we counted 43 reindeer in total.

Morven looking beautiful against an amazing view over the Cairngorms.

Once everyone was fed (including ourselves), the reindeer trotted off as one big herd, moving quickly across the mountain which was amazing to watch. Lottie and myself then headed to the summit of Cairn Gorm and around the Northern Corries in the hope of finding another group. Unfortunately, we spent the rest of the day searching for reindeer to no avail. We did however, have the most amazing day walking around the mountains, in shock the whole way that we were getting paid for this! I often have people telling me on hill trips that I have the best job in the world, and after this day out in the mountains, I would find it hard to disagree with them.

Julia

Three became separated from the herd but after a few minutes of calling them, they ran straight back over, not wanting to miss out on their lunch. There is still a bit of snow left over in the Cairngorms, even after the summer heat-wave, which we can see in the middle of this photo.

All of the herd following Lotti and her white feedbag. I was walking behind making sure they kept moving forwards.

My first time meeting Fly. Her antlers were incredible with one side towering over the other. Apparently she lost one of her antlers a lot later than the other, causing the mismatching in their size.

Look at the size of Fly’s antlers in comparison to Okapi (who has fairly large antlers for a female)!

Kipling running over to see if I have any food!

Gloriana hasn’t yet moulted her winter coat on her ears so they are still really fluffy!

Brie curious about my camera and Cheer behind looking beautiful.

Lotti and myself couldn’t believe how cute this calf, Frost, was with his winter coat still on his neck in little clumps.

It’s a tiring life for these two calves…

Lotti looking down towards Loch Avon from the side of Cairn Gorm.

13th April 201823rd July 2024

The Northern Corries

As it’s my turn to write a blog, I thought I would do something a little different. Here at the Reindeer Centre in Glenmore, every time I look towards the hillside and enclosure, my eyes are always drawn to the daunting shape which stands boldly behind it. These are the Northern Corries of Cairn Gorm. On a clear day in the Glen, whether you’re here to see reindeer, walk, ski or simply escape into the space of this beautiful place, the horizon of towering cliffs and steep slopes might just fill you with awe as it does for myself. It’s for that reason that I’d like to tell people a little bit about what lies on the reindeer’s doorstep and where they have the opportunity to go now the time has come for them to explore the free range.

The Northern Corries are what make up the North West side of Cairn Gorm, Britain’s 6th highest mountain at 1245m high. There are 3 corries in total that sit side by side to one and other, each having it’s own individual character. A coire (corrie) or cirque is an amphitheatre like, bowl shaped valley formed by glacial erosion. The head of a coire is usually very steep with cliffs and rock faces. Below these, a steady downhill slope carved by the glacier that would have once existed.

As one of the most iconic spots in the whole of the Cairngorms National Park they are also popular with people, in particularly Coire Cas. This is the most eastern of the 3 corries where the ski centre and funicular railway is. It’s over 50 years since the first chairlift opened to skiers and it’s grown in popularity ever since. Our reindeer have been known to wander here every now and again but during the winter months they tend to keep their distance from the busy ski slopes. However, they have often been seen licking salt off the road to the main carpark! Interestingly, other animals such as mountain hare and the ptarmigan also use the busy slopes as protection from predators such as the Golden Eagle and Ravens who, like our Reindeer usually keep away the busier areas.

The central coire of Coire an t-Sneachda is the most dramatic. Here the cliffs can be up to 200m high and below them, a huge boulder field with rocks the size of cars that have been crumbling away from the cliffs high above for thousands of years. During the winter, climbers and mountaineers can flock into the coire if the conditions are good as it is one of the most reliable places for this style of climbing anywhere in the UK. For our reindeer, I could imagine there is actually a lot of food for them in the coire with lots of boggy areas where lichen would thrive but over the years. Unfortunately for them, Sneachda has also got busier and busier with people and it’s become a place where the reindeer spend less time other than the odd spot of grazing.

The final and most westerly coire is Coire an Lochain. This is another steep sided coire where more giant cliffs lie at the back. It is also home to the highest loch or lochain in Scotland at around 920m. What makes this coire special is that it’s thought to have had the UK’s last glacier as little as a few hundred years ago. Remnants of this are still visible all around the coire, but the most obvious sign of past glacial activity is the Great Slab, a glacial moraine of rock that sits proudly just under the upper cliffs.

Climbers and walkers do regularly venture into Coire an Lochain but not in the numbers that the other two coire get. Being a little quieter, this is the most popular of the coires for the reindeer. Similarly to Coire an Sneachda, the coire is much wetter than the plateau with many small burns and boggy areas, meaning there is more lichen and other foods for them. The females and calves have been found there a few times recently. On the whole though, the reindeer don’t spend huge amounts of time here and usually pass through to higher, more remote places in the summer months.

Dave with the reindeer in Coire an Lochain

If you are planning on exploring the Northern Corries in the coming year summer or winter, keep an eye out for some of the herd. You may be lucky to bump into some of them in one of Britain’s true mountain areas.

Joe

26th January 201823rd July 2024

Burns: Robert / Supper / Reindeer

Burns Suppers celebrate the life and work of the Scots poet Robert Burns. More commonly known as Burns Night the suppers take place on or around his birthday, 25^th January and are effectively a second national day in Scotland. Here at Reindeer House we just love any excuse to get together and eat some fantastic food with some great company! For those of you that don’t know about the Burns Supper tradition here’s a brief overview of what we got up to last night at our Burns Supper, along with some tales of our reindeer named Burns, seeing as this is a reindeer blog after all!

Robert Burns was born in 1759 in Alloway, Ayshire and lived until he was 37. He is known and celebrated worldwide for his poetry much of which was written in the Scots language or Scots dialect. Whilst many of his poems were of the Romanticism style he lived through a period of political repression. His work often reflected or commented upon this and some considered him to be a radical and revolutionary which perhaps helped give him such a huge following during and after his lifetime.

The poem and song “Auld Lang Syne” is sung all over the world on Hogmanay and is one of Rabbie Burns’ most famous works. Other well known work by him includes “Scots Wha Hae”, a patriotic song which became an unofficial national anthem for Scotland. It was written in the form of a speech from Robert the Bruce before the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 where Scotland defeated England in Battle. Romantic work included (My Love is Like) “A Red, Red Rose” whilst “Tam o’ Shanter” and “To a Mouse” reflect on his upbringing as a tenant farmer. For us though at Reindeer House his “My Heart’s in the Highlands” seems most appropriate!

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

My heart’s in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart’s in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart’s in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Farewell to the mountains, high-cover’d with snow,
Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;
Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,
Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.
My heart’s in the Highlands.

If you needed further persuasion of Robert Burns’ stature then did you know he won a contest run by STV to be called “The Greatest Scot” of all time in 2009? It is a rather impressive feat to have beaten Mel Gibson (William Wallace) to the title don’t you think? Perhaps he was aided by some of his extremely impressive nicknames that make him sound more like a cross between a rap artist and a boxer:

– The Bard of Ayrshire

– The Ploughman Poet

– Or just plain Rabbie Burns

Here’s a photo of some of our cows and calves on the free range a couple of weeks ago for anyone desperate to get back onto reindeer!

Burns Suppers have been taking place for over two centuries with the evenings format barely changing over the years. There is usually a general welcome followed by the “Selkirk Grace”

Some hae meat and canna eat,

And some wad eat that want it;

But we hae meat, and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Supper usually then begins with a soup dish such as Scotch broth or Cullen skink before everyone stands for the “Piping” of the haggis (this is exactly how it sounds). We stand whilst the haggis is brought into the room by the cook whilst a piper plays a tune such as “A Man’s a Man for A’ That” written by Burns. Before you can eat the haggis though, you must first address it! “Address to a Haggis” is a poem written to a haggis with the opening line of Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face” (translated as Nice seeing your honest, chubby face). At last we can eat the haggis! Served with neeps (swede) and tatties (potatoes) our meal last night was delicious! The evening concludes with an often amusing “Toast to the Lassies” and a reply for the laddies before a vote of thanks is given and everyone stands to sing “Auld Lang Syne”.

Reindeer herders, spotted for once out of our scruffy clothes!

As you can see we had a fantastic evening, but back to the reindeer!

As well as giving us an excuse for a party at the end of January, Rabbie Burns is of particular importance to us because we have a reindeer named after him! This year our calves were named after authors, writers and poets so we obviously had to name one Burns. He has turned out to be one of the biggest, strongest and healthiest calves of the year. He is extremely tame and bold and quickly became quite a cheeky chappy. We have him marked down, along with Dr Seuss, as being one of the biggest characters of the next few year but hopefully neither of them will misbehave too much in the following years as young bulls like Fergus did.

Burns 0917.JPG — Burns, of the reindeer variety rather than his namesake Robert. Taken a few months ago he’s now substantially bigger!

When he came in off the free range in late summer with his mother Gazelle he had broken one of his antlers and it was growing over his face making it difficult for him to feed. We called out the vet who cut away the antler from his face and after a short while with a bandage in the shed he recovered well to become the strong healthy calf that he is. We are interested to see next year whether his antler will grow back in a more “normal” direction and shape or whether the pedicle from which the antler grows has been damaged and Burns will perhaps always grow one antler in a funny shape and direction.

Burns and fiona.jpg — Fiona and Burns out on the free range this week showing off his forward growing antler.

Chris

24th February 201713th March 2024

A Jolly January!

As many of you know we close for 4-5 weeks between the school holidays in January / February. This year some of my colleagues had lots of exciting places to go lined up – Thailand, Namibia, New Zealand, Wales and for me just bonny Scotland! Myself, Hen and Andi were the (hard) core staff over this period and a few others roped in on the odd day to help feed the reindeer. Carrying 6 buckets of feed out on your own is impossible so Tilly, Alex, Olly, Andy and Sheena were around to help out as well.

img_2017-02-16_14-48-12 — Olly and I leading the reindeer out of the mountain enclosure for the winter. Tiree, my collie, adding another skill to reindeer dogs by carrying a wee bit of reindeer food to help lighten my load.

Once we are closed we don’t use our mountain enclosure so Olly and I had the pleasure of taking the reindeer out onto the free range once we had shut up shop! We were seeing them pretty much everyday giving them a good feed to manage where they were during this time. They would move around a fair bit but never said no to a tasty bag of feed when we called them. With only the odd small dump of snow this was pretty easy to access the hills which meant we had some lovely walks out to find and feed the reindeer. On these walks out we could take the dogs, as long as they were well behaved! I was dog sitting for friends on holiday in New Zealand so Frankie was a new addition to being a ‘reindeer dog’ and she took to it very well. Our dogs are trained to sit and stay wherever we ask them for the duration we are off in the distance feeding the reindeer but Frankie had to be tethered, she wasn’t quite as savvy yet but she waited patiently. For ten days I was on my own with help from a crew of folk to carry feed onto the hill for me. Turns out with her paniers on Tiree (my collie) can also carry a wee bit of food… every little helps! It’s quite weird being the only one in work… extra tea breaks! Don’t tell the boss 😉

img_2017-02-16_14-51-27 — Tiree and Frankie waiting while we go off to feed the reindeer (top left). Fiona leading Okapi with an improvised head collar (top right). Tiree and Sookie doing office work with me (bottom left). Three of the oldest girls in the her – Tambourine (17 years old), Tuppence (16) and Lilac (18).

On one occasion, it was actually a day off, we (myself, Tilly, Olly and Holly) went for a morning run up onto Cairngorm as it was such a lovely day. We took our pack of hounds and needless to say they had an absolute ball. On route we spotted a wee group of reindeer we hadn’t seen in a week or so, so Tilly and Holly carried on back to the car with all the dogs, being as reindeer and dogs don’t mix, while Olly and I went to see which ones they were and see if we could persuade them to follow us down, knowing we had no reindeer related useful items to catch or lure them with. We called them over and they came straight away, no questions asked. As they got closer they were a bit confused to begin with as we weren’t in the same reindeer herding attire they are used to, however we certainly sounded like reindeer herders so good old Okapi was first up to sus us out. All I had to pretend it was reindeer food was an empty packet of Haribo (of course it was empty) so I rustled it around, pretending it was reindeer food and low and behold she fell for it. So now I’m in the position to put a head collar on her… only problem was we didn’t have a head collar. So Olly whipped off his belt, I rolled up my jacket and she wore the belt like a collar and my jacket acted as a lead rope. It worked a treat and she followed like a lamb. The others followed too so we brought them a bit closer to home where Andi then met us with some actual reindeer food, not Haribo!

img_2017-02-16_14-53-55 — Feeding the herd on a beautiful sunny day with the northern corries in the background (top left). Moskki, Tiree and Murdoch enjoying their mountain runs (top right). Fiona with Moskki in a rucksack as Moskki tries to have a lick of an antler while still attached to the reindeer’s head (bottom left). Hill running with the hounds (bottom right).

So we are back in business here at the Reindeer Centre. Shop and paddocks are open and we are doing our daily guided tour up to see the herd on the hill. The chosen reindeer to spend a couple of weeks in the paddocks are Sambar, Hopper, Hobnob, Jenga, Israel and Inca. They’ll be back on the hill once schools go back. Everyday we wander out to locate the herd and with our lack of snow at the moment that is very easy indeed.

Fiona

30th December 201613th March 2024

Rounding up 2016

2016 has been a very busy year for us here at the Reindeer Centre for both us herders and the reindeer. Of course, the reindeer have been the stars of the show and us herders have just played background roles, so I thought to end the year we would have a little blog with some great pictures of the superstars themselves.

I have included pictures from our Trip advisor page as well as our Instagram account and people who have tagged us on Instagram and Facebook, and our own personal images. I have tried to credit the rightful owner but if anyone sees their picture and it is not credited, please email us at info@cairngormreindeer.co.uk and I will try to rectify this.

Bhuachaille and Steve Talbott posing in front of Meall a’ Bhuachaille in the winter. Photo by Dee Marie.

12705414_1531217160514691_8181516707522689420_n — Food please! Dixie this winter looking for a tasty snack. Photo by Candice Bell.

mo and julie.jpg — Julie Boothby feeding Mo in the autumn, photo by Howard Boothby

fullsizerender — Orkeny getting lots of love and attention from Laura McLeod. Photo by Laura McLeod

15109618_10211141227306809_3177220872204179102_n — A great shot of Louise O’Shea feeding Gazelle. Gazelle looks delighted! Taken by Martin Hipkin

Thanks for such a great 2016 and hopefully 2017 will be just as successful!

Happy New Year!

All at the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre

18th November 201613th March 2024

Memorable reindeer: Amber

Amber was one of the very first reindeer I remember meeting when I arrived back in 2007. At that time she was in the hill enclosure with her 6-month-old son, Go. Both were very tame and friendly, and with her distinctive curved antlers, I found her easy to recognise amongst the sea of reindeer I was frantically trying to tell apart. Amber was also incredibly pretty, with a delicate, dished face and a gentle expression.

Born in 1999, Amber was the final calf from her mum Trout. Trout and her compatriot, Tuna, lived to the grand old age of 18, which as far as I know is the record for any reindeer in our herd (Editor’s note: Lilac now holds this record, surviving to age 19 in 2018). No prizes for guessing the naming theme for their year of birth (1984)! Unlike Trout, who has 11 calves to her name on the family tree, Amber never proved to be such a successful breeding female, with her only offspring being Esme, Oasis, Go and Sambar, or at least those are the only ones that survived long enough to be named (we usually lose a calf or two each year in the summer months when they are very young and vulnerable). Esme managed a better job of breeding than her mum, with 7 calves to her name.

Amber above Plantation Hill08.JPG — Amber looking out over the hills towards Meall a Bhuachaille

Amber was one of those lovely, gentle reindeer, but a fairly dominant character in the herd – a matriarch, if you will. She was a great reindeer to have around in the winter months when the herd all free-range completely as she so was easy to catch, and therefore an ideal candidate to be put on a halter and used as the ‘lead’ reindeer when needing to move the herd from place to place. I remember Fiona once leading her all the way from Eagle Rock back to near the Ciste carpark (where we were going to take the tour to that day) with her belt looped loosely around Amber’s neck, in place of a halter which we had managed to forget to take with us.

The continuation of Trout’s branch of the family tree now rests squarely upon the shoulders of Amber’s last calf Sambar, who is the sole remaining female in Trout’s descendants, other than Esme’s daughter Okapi. Unfortunately we don’t want to risk breeding from Okapi as she has had a prolapsed uterus a couple of times, so we think it’s better to not risk the chance of this happening again. We want it to stay firmly where it belongs! So Sambar has a lot of expectation on her, and is a lovely reindeer to boot, although a wee bit shyer than Amber was.

Esme and Okapi 0909.jpg — Esme in 2009, with yearling Okapi

Amber and Sambar 0908.JPG — Amber with Sambar on the left, in 2008

Amber herself passed away at some point in 2013, although we never knew exactly when as she just didn’t return from the summer grazing range in the autumn. She was over 14 by this point, so a very respectable age for any reindeer, and we are glad she finished her days out on the hills roaming freely.

Hen