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 looking pretty epic in September 2025.
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’s new born calf – what a cutie!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…
Where has October gone?! It was a pretty hectic month here with the rut in full swing, halter training the calves, free ranging reindeer keeping us busy, and three weeks of October holidays. But it’s been very fun and hopefully a successful rut – we’ll find out in the spring! The big news was that we managed to open the Exhibition! We did a very ‘soft opening’ just letting the October holiday makers have a look around to test things out. The best place to find up to date information regarding our Paddocks and Exhibition is still our website, or feel free to give us a call.
1st of October: Torch looking mega – she’s in great condition and looks particularly super for 13 year old.6th of October: Cowboy investing the bags – “any more food for me?!”6th of October: The gorgeous Winnie, she’s now 2.5 years old so was running with a bull this autumn. We’re so proud of our little hand-reared calf!7th of October: Handsome Jester.7th of October: Choc-ice has been one of our breeding bulls this year. He certainly knows where the lichen comes from – this was the face that met us most mornings.9th of October: Kernel looking for food. Kulfi and Christie are behind.10th of October: Reindeer on the skyline. 11th of October: Mother and daughter – Sunflower and Fika.11th of October: Zoom will be trained to pull a sleigh this autumn.18th of October: Feeding the herd on a glorious morning.20th of October: Dr Seuss posing beautifully. 20th of October: Wonderful Emm walking off Orinoco and Suebi – they’d be running with Jimmy the bull but after a few weeks Jimmy seemed to be done with the rut, so these girls got to go back out on the free range.21st of October: Bordeaux and calf.21st of October: Beret and calf – he has super cool face markings.22nd of October: Jester and Kernel chewing the cud together. 23rd of October: Dante and her beautiful dark calf.29th of October: Feeding the calves out of the bag. It’s turned them all into absolute monsters! 29th of October: Tap and calf. Two of the darkest reindeer in the entire herd.30th of October: Pinto and her son.
It was very exciting as the new Reindeer Centre building and Paddocks were up and running. It was still ‘work in progress’ with still lots to do. The Exhibition was not ready for the visitors yet but four reindeer were in the Paddocks. Visitors were coming in to see them, the new shop and to go and see the reindeer up on the hill. The new Reindeer Centre building is so amazing and really nice. There is a staff room upstairs and an office downstairs and there is even a boot room for all our jackets, waterproofs and boots. The dogs aren’t allowed in normally so they stay behind in Reindeer House. I found my gold plaque on the outside of the building celebrating my Loch Swim which I was very excited about.
The new Centre back in February 2025.Emm’s plaque.
On my first morning, I did the Hill Trip with Ruth and Cameron but we missed all the excitement when, back at the Centre, Pip the reindeer jumped over a low rail in the Paddocks on to the board walk and escaped leaving her 9-month old calf Pukka behind! She ran out the visitor’s gate entrance, around Glenmore to Loch Morlich, through the campsite and back. Eventually Fiona and Amy caught her and brought her back and made the low rail bit higher to stop her escaping again. The next day with Fiona I took Pip and her calf Pukka from the Paddocks back to the herd on the Cairngorm free range. I led Pukka up the hill and Fiona led Pip. Ruth and Cameron had been to find the reindeer that morning and had just made it to the Hill Trip visit spot. We saw Pip and Morven have a fight with their antlers and were pushing each other to establish the pecking order. Fiona gave the reindeer their breakfast and then took Dante and Suebi off the free range for their turn in the Paddocks. It was a busy day on the mountain when we saw two ambulances going up the ski road, then an air ambulance helicopter was in the carpark. I later found out there were two Cairngorm Mountain Rescue call outs and rescues that day.
Emm with Pip and Pukka.
One of the days I got to go to Tilly’s farm and onto the second free range area. I went with Fiona and Lotti in Brenda the reindeer truck. On the way there, we were so lucky as we saw nine Black Grouse lekking by the side of the road. It was very exciting to see. We walked up and met Tilly who was on the quad bike and was calling down the free ranging reindeer who were there. The reindeer were surrounding the quad bike because of the bags of reindeer feed on it. We found Dr Seuss, LX, Clouseau and Morse and Fiona and Lotti walked them off the hill as we were taking them back to the Paddocks for another reindeer swap. I fed the reindeer with Tilly. Me and Tilly went further up on the hill on the quad bike to look for the other group of free ranging reindeer including Scully, my adopted reindeer. Tilly and I called and called but they didn’t come to our calls so Tilly said she would come up and find them to feed them later that day as me, Fiona and Lotti had to get back to the Reindeer Centre. Tilly drove the quad bike with me hanging on downhill back to the farm where we met Fiona, Lotti and the four reindeer. It was so exciting. We stopped off at Bothy Bakery and got ourselves some hot drinks and treats. When we got back to the Reindeer Centre, we put the four reindeer boys in the Paddocks and swapped them for Oatcake, Dante, Suebi and Mangetout who with Andi and Hen I took to the reindeer herd on the Cairngorm free range. I led Oatcake up. The reason for the swap was that the girls getting a bit feisty in the Paddocks and were fighting each other so we decided to get the boys into the Paddocks as they are more laid back.
Feeding reindeer from Tilly’s quadbike.Some of our lovely males enjoying themselves free ranging.
Whilst I was there this time, I had my windiest and rainiest Hill Trip ever. It was on the free range. People who had booked on to it had a choice not to go and get a refund or go in the Paddocks and children weren’t allowed on it because of the conditions on the hill. Eleven people turned up so Me, Hen and Cameron did the Hill Trip. Rain was pelting in my face and I was trying not to get blown over and got very wet. The reindeer were not bothered by it. They were all sitting down when we got to them. It was so wild that after the Hill Trip we left in one big group. Normally people can leave the reindeer in their own time. Also Hen and Cameron kept their talks short and Andi and Ben had brought the reindeer down closer to the car park than normal. We said we could go by the shelter building by the carpark after the Hill Trip if anyone had any more questions. We said to the visitors at the beginning if they set off with us and the weather got too much that they could go back down. Afterwards, in the Paddocks, I talked to people who couldn’t go up on the Hill Trip that day.
Sundae and Winnie behind.Pumpkin closest to camera, part of the free ranging herd.
A couple of days after that Hill Trip the weather got worse meaning one day when I was there that it was too dangerous to go and find the reindeer and do a Hill Trip so no one went out that day. We all did inside jobs that day.
On the Hill Trips, you get to meet lots of interesting people from all over the world and it is brilliant seeing their reactions when they get to meet the reindeer and when you answer their questions about the reindeer.
I did the hand feed talk most of the time, guiding the visitors on how to hand feed a reindeer correctly and make the most of it. One day after a Hill Trip, me, Lotti and Ruth chilled out with Winnie for a few minutes. I had a selfie with them. When we got back to the Reindeer Centre, a visitor gave us all a chocolate bar each to say thank you for taking them to see the reindeer. It was very kind and thoughtful of them. On a Hill Trip, I saw Torch licking her 9 month old calf called Cappuccino which was very cute.
Emm, Ruth, Winnie and Lotti.Torch and Cappuccino.
There was one very exciting trip a few days later when I went to find the reindeer with Ruth to bring them down to the visit spot. We walked up a very steep bit which was 935m high (the highest I have ever been in the Cairngorm Mountains) and also a different part which I have never been too. We found the reindeer up very high chilling and sitting down. Meanwhile Lotti went to the visit spot that day to drop off the food bags for the reindeer’s breakfast and started to climb up a high ridge to meet us. Ruth started leading the herd with a hand feed bag whilst I was the sheep dog at the back. We went down a bit towards a gully that we would have crossed. When we got to the gully, Ruth stopped and said there were snow bridges across the gully which were too dangerous to cross. Ruth and Lotti radioed each other to say the best plan would take the reindeer to a different visit spot so Ruth and I took the reindeer back on ourselves and went down the mountain a different way. The reindeer were a bit confused as we had changed direction. Lotti could see Ruth and me moving the reindeer from the ridge she was on. Ruth was about 200m ahead of me whilst I was at the back being a sheep dog encouraging them to move and stay together as a herd. Winnie walked part of the way with me by my side and she also walked part of the way by Ruth’s side too. I saw a white mountain hare run very fast past me going up the mountain. There were some snow patches which we had to cross and it was so lovely seeing the reindeer on the snow patches and I could even hear them crunching the snow when they walked across them. We met Lotti at the new visit spot. The Hill Trip had set off so we waited till Andi and Hen had got up to us with the visitors. Whilst we waited for them, we chilled with the reindeer. I then stayed for the Hill Trip with Andi and Hen. Me and Hen gave them their breakfast whilst Andi talked to the visitors and we did the Hill Trip. This day felt like one of my biggest achievements and I was so proud of myself. Ruth recorded the walk on Strava. I got a very special reindeer herding badge for it too.
Ruth and Emm after a successful free ranging mission. Walking behind the herd of free rangers.
On other days I did inside jobs in the Reindeer Centre. I swept and hoovered with Henry the hoover the office, hall, shop, staff room and boot room. I cleaned and wiped the shop shelves. I helped Andi set up shelves in the staff room and move boxes. I helped Lotti measure for a sofa bed in the staff room. A few days later, Amy went to get it and I helped push it into place in the staff room. I made up the adoption gift packs up too which was a pen, a magnet and a pencil case. I made up the 1st adoption packs which includes certificates, leaflets, ID cards, letters etc., folded the Paddock information sheets which the visitors can have when they go into the Paddocks and cut out the Cairngorm Reindeer Flag stickers.
Other jobs included feed mixing in the cement mixer and made up the hand feed. I also tidied up the welly area, washed the wellies and swept the outside sheltered area. My mum always said I never do these jobs at home!
Some mornings, I let the Paddock reindeer through to the display area for their breakfast and made sure their water bowls were topped up. In the evenings, I let the Paddock reindeer through to the bigger nighttime enclosure in the woods for their tea. I also poo picked in the Paddocks. I talked to people in the Paddocks too about reindeer.
I said bye to Lisette as she was leaving but she is looking forward to coming back to visit.
I am really looking forward to my next trip in October 2025 and am counting down the days.
I’ve worked with the Cairngorm Reindeer Herd as cover staff since 2019, coming and going, never staying more than a couple of months. This year I finally joined the team as permanent staff, so I wanted to commemorate my little journey to becoming a full-time reindeer herder.
I first encountered the reindeer in April 2018 as a visitor on a Hill Trip. We had the wonderful Sheena as our guide. Standing in the snowy mountains, watching the herd mill around us, I fell completely in love with it all.
Meeting Oatcake on my first visit in 2018.A young Dr Seuss in 2018.
After visiting a few times that summer, I asked about work. The next spring, the team were kind enough to have me along for a trial day. There was just one snag… My partner had just been offered a very exciting job at the opposite end of the country. We relocated from Scotland to the South-West.
I spent the summer of 2019 travelling up and down the length of the country to do cover work with the herd. My standout memory from that summer was a day out on the free-range. A cow with a little calf appeared on the plateau – Hobnob and Minsk.
Minsk on the free-range as a calf, 2019.The herd on the move in the enclosure, 2019.
My plans to return in 2020 were a bust due to Covid, so when 2021 arrived I was desperate to get back. I signed up to a solid two months of work over the summer and ended up living in my tent. It was such a rainy summer, and the old tent slowly accumulated duct tape to keep me dry and cosy. A solid two months of work really helped me build confidence.
Relaxing with Dr Seuss, 2021.Emmental
In 2022 I was completing an ecology qualification and needed a field project. I took a break from herding and spent several weeks researching instead. I surveyed ticks in the enclosure and over at the farm. These parasites are a big issue for the herd due to the diseases they carry. I spent my summer following my GPS unit to random coordinates around the enclosure to conduct my survey, exploring all the secret nooks and crannies.
Lupin inspecting my wind speed metre in 2022.A tick sampling transect on Silver Mount, 2022.
When I arrived in May 2023, I had just missed the birth of the last calf. There was still plenty of calf action though, as we ended up with two hand-reared calves – Winnie and Alba. In early June we walked the cows and calves out onto the free-range. It was such a beautiful evening that I had a bit of a realisation… I really didn’t want to leave. This set the wheels in motion for us to move back to Scotland.
With Winnie and Alba in the woods, 2023.Walking Cows and Calves onto the free-range, June 2023.
April/May 2024 was my first proper calving season, getting out and looking for cows and their new-born calves around the enclosure. I was house hunting in the area on my days off. Slowly, everything fell into place. By September we’d found a house, and I also got my first proper experience of working during the rut. When I left, it was so exciting to think that when I finally returned to Scotland it would be for good.
Catching a calf in 2024.Moving the herd of the free-range, 2024.
2025 kicked off with two big moves! Me and my husband moved cross-country again, and the Reindeer Centre moved into the new building! I came back for some cover work in March, and in April I finally joined as permanent staff. No looking back now!
Moving the herd on a snowy morning, March 2025.Winnie and Alba, all grown up, 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!
This summer I have had a lovely spell of catching up with our cows and calves out on the free range. After missing both of the nights that we lead the cows and calves out onto the free range a small group decided that I couldn’t miss out and were found loitering outside the hill enclosure the following morning, it was a glorious morning to be moving reindeer and allowed me to spend some time with the group before they went to higher ground.
Thankfully for Amy the second batch of cows and calves to leave the enclosure didn’t go far and she was able to go catch up with them the following day just outside the hill enclosure.
My first trip out to see the free rangers was at the end of July, heading to an area that the herd frequent through the summer; this is an area of the hill that I’ve heard a lot about, but hadn’t seen it first-hand. After a bit of a slog going up hill due to the heat, the temperature began to decrease, it became windier and a whole lot more comfortable (no wonder the reindeer like the top of the hills!) after a short period of time I stumbled across a group of cows and calves and began to identify them. I would say this is the most overwhelming part of heading out onto the free range as you want to try and document as much as possible so we can keep track of who we have seen and also take lots of pictures and videos to reference in the future. We are also trying to make it around the group to see what condition they are in and see if everyone is well in themselves, since the summer is when there can be long spells between us catching up with the females. I have included a few pictures of some of the girls that I caught up with on this trip. Due to the time of the year, they’re very scruffy as they are moulting out of their winter coat still and I could already see some impressive antlers. As I was enjoying my time with the herd, another group of older girls joined us – at a distance. Even at that distance you can see how epic Spy’s antlers are.
Cheer and Chai – mother and yearling daughter still hanging out together.Vienna and Scully – still looking rather scruffy but you can see their smart summer coats beneath the tatty old winter coat.Tap’s calf closest to the camera.Beret’s calf, much paler than Tap’s above, showing the variety in coat colour.Marple having a good summer and growing her usual lovely antlers.Spy on the skyline – even at a distance her antlers look epic!
I am continuingly amazed at how much the reindeer move around on the free range and it definitely becomes more apparent during the summer; we can head out to different areas on the free range and still come across the same reindeer. Just over a week later, I went back out onto the free range and caught up with a smaller group of cows and calves (on another warm day, much to my dismay), but having these warmer spells means that you can almost guarantee that the reindeer will be higher up and lazing around rather than travelling great distances; making my life easier. It was a mixed group of reindeer I had seen the previous trip and some other cows that I hadn’t seen since they had gone out on to the free range, which was lovely as I could appreciate how the calves had changed in the week or so since I had last seen them.
Marple and calf a week or so later – you can see how much Marple has moulted in that time.Brew – a cheeky yearling.
The people of the northern hemisphere and reindeer have a long-interconnected history. In the days of the ice ages reindeer were known as far south as Spain and as one of the larger and least scary animals roaming the land (compared to cave lions and aurochs), they made natural prey for humans of all kinds. Reindeer antlers and bones found in archaeological sites in France age the Reindeer-Homosapien relationship at least 45,000 years old – although it is argued there is some evidence of Neanderthals hunting reindeer 60,000 years ago!
‘Bone cave’ in Inchnadamph where many reindeer bones were found alongside early human remains.
In the 40ish thousand years reindeer and humans have been in contact, our relationship has evolved. From hunter-gatherers hunting reindeer with spears and bows to rifles or to our Reindeer Centre in Glenmore and our Christmas Reindeer pulling sleds. In this blog, I am going to focus on how we lived with reindeer pre-domestication.
One of the more interesting sources we have on how people of the reindeer live with undomesticated reindeer are the peoples that still live or until recently have lived with the Caribou – most notably the various groups of inland Inuit in North America. (Note: Caribou and Reindeer are the same species, but the north American caribou has never been domesticated). For these people, as many other people of the reindeer, reindeer are the lifeblood of their communities.
Reindeer tend to be migratory animals (one subspecies of reindeer in Canada makes the largest migration of any land mammal!) and the humans around them have tended to take on nomadic or semi-nomadic habits as well. In many places, they haven’t needed to be with the reindeer the whole time but moved between pinch points of the migration routes – narrow mountain passes or land bridges between great lakes that the seemingly endless rivers of reindeer would be forced to cross, into the waiting arms of the local hunters. Life like this is boom and bust. A few times a year, the community will catch the great river of deer and during these times will feast. Much of the meat will also be preserved for the many winter months when the reindeer no longer pass through (as they are less mobile during the winter and stay hidden in wintering grounds). Outside of the major floods of reindeer, the odd one is to be found wandering, and much time is spent looking for fresh meat to aid hungry bellies. During the winter, in the coldest places, people in history have been known to survive on semi-frozen dried meat.
A group of our reindeer weathering a winter blizzard. Cairngorm reindeer don’t have a huge migration, but they do come lower down the hills in winter.
Many of these people lived almost exclusively on deer produce. In a carnivore diet, fat becomes essential; it contains much of the necessary vitamins for life that aren’t contained in meat alone. Thus, much of the animals were eaten, not just the finest cuts rump. In fact, those rump stakes we prize so highly are comparatively low in nutrients and were sometimes the parts of the animals given to the dogs.
The reindeer haven’t only been used for food, in almost all cultures of people of the reindeer, every bit of the animal is used. Clothing and boots are made from their skins – often the skin from the belly of the reindeer is chosen for the soles of shoes for its toughness; the hide from the back for coats and parkas due to its thickness and warmth; hoods, mittens and boot tops are made from the hide from the brow due to its suppleness; etc… The shelter the reindeer provide also extends to summer tents, where scrapped and tanned hides are stretched around (often) birch poles to form the semi-mobile summer home. To lash the tent together, many cultures make use of the long and strong sinews from the back of the reindeer. These are also used to sew the clothing together – they have the bonus of swelling when they get wet so that most well sewn seams are fairly watertight.
The trousers and parka of an Inuit man, southern Baffin Island, Hudson Bay, 1910-1914 – Royal Ontario Museum
Reindeer antler and bone is also a useful material, antler is still commonly used for making knife handles and for fixings of all kinds. Reindeer House here in Glenmore is held together by reindeer antler (click here for proof)! The parts of the reindeer that remain can be used as ritual objects or donations back to the ecosystem. This respectful use of the whole animal is repeated through most people of the reindeer, even in people who now live with domesticated reindeer.
The September visit was very special. We were lucky enough to attend Fiona and Joe’s wedding and celebrations. They got married on top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille, the hill behind Reindeer House. It was a very wet and windy day but it was so special being on top with Fiona, Joe and everyone and the dogs and to see them get married. A person was playing the bagpipes too which was very magical. We all went to the Pine Marten Bar afterwards for some food, drink and dancing. Then there was a fantastic weekend of celebrations at Badaguish involving a second wedding ceremony and wedding photos and of course reindeer. The reindeer who attended were Busby, Magnum, Hemp and Dr Seuss. The weather was so lovely and there were lots of sunshine. The other celebrations included a ceilidh, Highland games, fun run, a loch swim in Loch Morlich, where I paddled this time, and lots of music, food and drink. It was so lovely seeing everyone and it was very being special being part of the really fantastic wedding celebrations.
Fiona and Joe on a very soggy but utterly beautiful wedding day.Fiona and Joe with Busby, Hemp and Dr Seuss!
I was very lucky enough to be invited to attend the naming meeting of the calves. I sat around the table in the kitchen of Reindeer House with my herding friends and had tea and cake with them whilst they decided on the names of the new calves the theme this year being Teas and Coffees.
The calves had grown so much since I had last seen them in May. They had just come into the hill enclosure from the free range with their mums. They were much bigger and braver. Helsinki’s premature calf was doing so well. His name is Irish after Irish coffee.
Latte (Brie’s calf) and Emm!
So much had changed in the new Reindeer Centre building. Tilly with her grandchildren gave me a tour of the new Centre. The stairs had been put in and the walls plastered. Sinks, pipes and the boiler had been put in. It looked so amazing. It is slowly getting there and is so exciting. It will be brilliant. We went outside to see where the reindeer Paddocks will be.
One morning, Poirot and Mivvi were outside the hill enclosure entrance gate. They had got out of the enclosure somehow. They were put back in and Isla walked around the fence line of the whole hill enclosure to see where they had got out. The fence line is 8km and the hill enclosure is 1,200 acres. She found out that someone had left the gate open down in the woods near Utsi’s hut so she shut it.
Emm and Mivvi.
I had a big surprise one morning on the Hill Trip, as I got out the reindeer van in the carpark and a lady came over to me and I realised it was a lovely lady from our local art shop where I am from. She was with her husband and they were on their honeymoon. They were so surprised to see me as they didn’t know I was up and thought I would be up later in the year. They were visiting because of me as I often go into their art shop back and show her and her colleagues my reindeer photos and tell them all about the reindeer and they got very interested. It was such a lovely surprise to see her and her husband and it was so brilliant taking them up to see the reindeer. That was such a special day.
I had time to chill and enjoy the reindeer which I really find special. One day after a morning Hill Trip, the reindeer were lying down in groups. They were chilling, dozing or asleep. One of the calves, Irish, was twitching in his sleep and his eyes were rolling. Hemp was asleep and snoring. I went around taking photos and selfies and Caterpillar was following me as I had the hand feed bag. She tended to follow me during Hill Trips because of the hand feed bag and because she is a shy reindeer we had been giving her hand feed out of the bag after the Hill Trips to get used to being handled. One day after another Hill Trip, Silk and Suebi from the free range turned up outside the hill enclosure fence. They followed Ruth and Lotti, who had a food bag, into the hill enclosure. They had been trying to get Silk into the hill enclosure for a wee while with little success as she is a very shy reindeer so everyone was really pleased she came into the hill enclosure.
Emm and a bunch of snoozy reindeer, including Morse with those whopping antlers behind.Christie and Espresso having a nap.
I got to help again treat some poorly reindeer when Pumpkin’s calf, called Lapsang, had been lying flat out on the hill trip. We took her temperature and it was very high. I held onto Pumpkin, who was on a head collar, whilst Ruth and Isla were dealing with Lapsang as Pumpkin was a protective mum. Most reindeer are not protective but Pumpkin was but Ruth was able to give Lapsang an injection to bring down the temperature and Isla led them both to the shed in the hill enclosure where to keep an eye on them.
At the end of my stay my herder friends surprised me by bringing Scully my adopted reindeer down from the hill. I was so pleased to see her. They had gone out to get Florence and her calf Cuppa off the free range there and bring them back to the hill enclosure to start getting Cuppa used to people and being handled. They also brought four more reindeer back including Scully which was so special. This was at the end of the day on my last working day so the next morning I went up on the morning Hill Trip to see Scully which was so brilliant. I got to hand feed her and Ruth took lovely photos of me with her.
Scully and Emm on the last day of Emm’s stay.
So, I have shared with you some of the memorable highlights of 2024 being with the reindeer and my herder friends. It was such a special time as always. I am really looking forward to being with the reindeer in 2025 with my first visit in February. I am so excited and am counting down the days till my next visit.
Reindeer live for an average of 12-13 years, with 17 or 18 being an exceptional lifespan, and I have now worked here since November 2007 – getting on for 18 years. In 2023, it got to the point where only a small handful of old reindeer still remained in the herd who had been alive when I first arrived, with everyone else having been born in the duration of my employment.
These five, Lulu, Enya and Elvis (born in 2006) and Fern and Fly (born in 2007), became the ‘oldies’, outlasting many reindeer who were younger than them. I thought of them as my gang of old buddies, the only reindeer to have been here longer than me. Lulu in particular was a real character and a favourite of mine – you can read a previous blog of mine about her here.
Fern in 2018 in her heyday, aged 11 and with an incredible set of antlers.Handsome Elvis with his silver coat.Fly looking shocked that I wanted to take her photo!
But after a couple of years of the situation not changing, 2023 rolled around and in the second half of the year, suddenly we lost Lulu, Enya and Elvis close together. My cohort of oldies was down to two! Fly managed another few months before her time came, leaving just Fern, older by a year to any others in the herd. But Fern was in remarkably good condition for a reindeer aged nearly 17. Big antlers for an old girl and in really good condition, though by late summer 2024 she was definitely looking a bit ‘older’ in comparison.
Fern in February 2024 at nearly 17 years old – looking incredible still.
Throughout winter 2024/2025 Fern continued to soldier on, in better condition than some of her younger buddies other than a bit of arthritis that we could manage with pain relief. We saw that part of the reindeer herd at least every day or two through the winter (in summer we see the females much less) and in the latter part of the season it started to become apparent that Fern’s sight was declining.
We made the hard decision to put her down at the end of the winter, at the point when we would naturally stop seeing the females daily as they move away to their summer pastures. Whilst she may have continued on for a few more months, the potential of her injuring herself accidentally out on the mountains and suffering a slow end without us knowing about it was a risk we were not willing to take – welfare always has to be the first priority for our animals.
My last photo of Fern, taken about 5 weeks before she died. Snoozing in the sunshine!
With the passing of Fern, the whole herd has now completely changed since I started. Gazelle, Sika and Sambar are now 17 years old (Gazelle the oldest by about a fortnight), and I have known them for their entire lives, and this feels like quite a significant point in my time here. Possibly mainly because it’s making me feel even older than usual, but hey ho.
Just like people, some reindeer have huge resemblance within their families, and some more so than others. I thought I’d write a wee blog to talk about a couple of the best examples in our herd today – and then I discovered that Ruth had beated me to it. So here’s a couple more examples of striking family resemblance, and you can read Ruth’s ‘Mini-me’ blog here.
Family ‘looks’ run especially strongly in Holy Moley’s family. She herself is the spitting image of her mum Galilee, and Holy Moley’s daughter Mississippi popped out looking like a carbon copy too. Here are Mississippi and Holy Moley in the photo above, taken in September 2024 when Mississippi was 16 months old – whilst obviously smaller still as she’s not full-grown, the resemblance is uncanny. Holy Moley only grows a single antler each year due to an injury as a calf, and it seems Mississippi even tried to emulate this look by breaking hers! I’d loved to have had the opportunity to photograph Galilee alongside the two of them, but sadly she died when Holy Moley was only 4 months old.
This is half-brothers Jelly and Cicero, who are both extremely similar. Jelly is a touch darker, but both grow matching antlers and for much of the year they can be pretty hard to tell apart, especially as they are the same age as each other. The best family resemblance of all is between their dad Houdini and Cicero (on the right in the photo), but once again I’ve never had the opportunity to get a photo of them all together, and Houdini is now very old and age has now changed his appearance somewhat. Houdini was originally born in Sweden and imported to join our herd in 2011, hence we bred from him a fair bit to use his ‘fresh’ genetics, but these two offspring are the most similar in appearance, both to him and to each other. All three grow relatively simple antlers for males, with not too much going on at the tops compared to some reindeer.
There are some other good examples in the herd, but it can be difficult to get photos of certain individuals together, so maybe I’ll add another blog further down the line when opportunity arises!
