Calving season May 2021 was my first month being a reindeer herder.
Later that year at Christmas time, I wanted to adopt a reindeer for my nephew Daley and for my niece Joelle in the Netherlands, but who to choose from all those hundred and fifty nice reindeer in the Cairngorms?
I mostly liked the name Cowboy. Named after a cowboy hat (calving theme in 2021) but also keeping the name animal related. Cowboy’s mum was Pony and Cowboy’s sister is named Turtle (after the bean). A cowboy is not only a person who takes care of cattle, but in movies he is described as a bit of a hero or maybe even a bit of a naughty person in a nice kind of way. Reindeer Cowboy, was a gorgeous dark colored calf and he (now 3 and a half years old) is still very handsome. I decided to adopt him for my nephew Daley. Next week’s blog will be about Beret, my chosen reindeer for my niece Joelle.
Beret on the left and Cowboy on the right – the chosen reindeer for adoption!
Here some lovely photos of Cowboy growing up:
Mum Pony (with her mouth full!) and newborn Cowboy!Cowboy aged 4 months old – September 2021Cowboy on a frosty morning – December 2021Cowboy – December 2021Cowboy – February 2022Cowboy with one antler – March 2022Cowboy growing his new set of antlers and losing his winter coat – June 2022Cowboy still looking very scruffy but with bigger antlers then the previous pic – July 2022Cowboy in November 2022 in the woods adjacent to the Paddocks. He grew a very funny set of antlers in 2022, a pointy V (peace sign) sticking out in front of his face on his left antler.Cowboy in September 2023 – what a handsome boy!
Cowboy spent time at the farm in Glenlivet last summer (2023) and grazing on the free-range over the winter months.
This summer he spent a lot of time in our hill enclosure and it’s nice to see him more often on the Hill Trips. He also loves getting hand feed!
Cowboy looking for more hand feed, September 2024
I’ve spotted him fast asleep not long ago, dreaming I’m sure.. rolling his eyes and twisting his legs. I took my chance to quietly sit next to him for a minute, thinking he would walk away as soon as he woke up and realized someone was sitting next to him. However, he opened his eyes, looked at me, changed position and went back to sleep! Dreaming about food?!
For any of you that have visited us on our Hill Trips at the end of last year, you may have noticed a young female hanging around us herders, ever hopeful that she can mooch some extra feed. She is a 5-year-old female called Bordeaux, who is very non-descript colour wise and was born in 2019 – which was the year we decided to name our reindeer after European places. She was born on the free range after her mother, Sika decided to go AWOL the day before we were due to bring the pregnant cows into our hill enclosure for the calving season. Doing this allows us to check that both cow and calf are healthy before sending them out to free range for the summer. But Sika must have known that a short stint in the hill enclosure was pending and decided it wasn’t how she wanted to spend the next couple of weeks!
The lovely Bordeaux – any visitors recognise this face?
Bordeaux’s mother is a sweet reindeer that is relatively independent. At the ripe old age of 16 she is now enjoying a retired life free ranging in the cairngorms. Both Bordeaux and her mother look very much alike, which helps me confidently ID at least one of the retired females out on the free range. To learn more about Sika have a read of Hen’s blog here.
Sika (left) and Bordeaux (right) in January 2023. Both have exactly the same facial expression when stood near a herder with a white bag.
In 2022 it was time for Bordeaux to continue her family line and she gave birth to a male calf in our hill enclosure. However, once out on the free-range Bordeaux sadly lost her calf – it is not unusual for first time mothers to lose their calves out on the free range, as reindeer build up resistance to some illnesses that they may encounter as they age. We found Bordeaux hanging around the ski road in rather poor condition, so we decided to bring her into our hill enclosure so we could fatten her up before the winter set in again.
Bordeaux in October 2022. She grew very small antlers that summer and her winter coat was rather scruffy indicating she was in slightly poorer condition than we would like so it was time to spoil her!
Being a super quiet reindeer, Bordeaux always hung about on the sidelines, when food was being set out for the herd – suggesting she may have been quite low in the pecking order. This meant that us herders began to feel sorry for her and decided that we would give her extra feed on the Hill Trips too! It has been well over a year since we started feeding Bordeaux and it is very clear that she now expects extra food whenever she sees a herder. But in comparison to other reindeer, she is very polite about it (Editor’s note: Usually. She did kick Hen earlier this year when demanding food…). She has opted for the puppy dog eyes and patient wait tactic, which of course we can’t ignore because she is being so sweet about it!
Bordeaux in February 2022 – looking much better but we just can’t resist those eyes.Bordeaux posing beautifully.How can we resist this face?Tell tale signs – crumbs all over her face!She must get it from her mum! Sika (left) licking her lips and Bordeaux (right) posing beautifully.
Another tactic I’ve noticed her doing is to stare at you from afar – there have been a few times now that I have noticed her keeping surveillance on the white bag and as soon as you go to feed another reindeer, she is straight in there too. I’ve also been told that she can be quite pushy and rude with Hen, which I find quite hard to believe – Sorry Hen! (Editor’s note: Hen insists this is absolutely true!). So even now that she is in better condition, we still slip her the odd mouthful of feed as she is a super sweet lass, and it is great to have her around.
Whilst the calves get to feed from the bags, Bordeaux tries to stare down Amy. Bordeaux sticking her tongue out behind Emm.
So, there it is, a little history on a fairly popular little reindeer that has brought lots of you wonderful visitors a large amount of joy with the added pleasure of some lovely pictures!
With the Paris Olympics fast approaching I have been persuaded to put pen to paper ( or finger tips to keyboard ) to write about our very own reindeer, Olympic.
Olympic was born in 2012, the year of the London Olympics, hence his name and from the very start he stood out as a little bit different to the rest.
He was quite literally the black sheep/reindeer of his family! His mother Lilibet was a white/grey coloured reindeer who always produced light coloured calves, until Olympic came along and he was born dark brown and has remained a dark coloured reindeer all his life.
Mother and son in May 2012.Lilibet and Olympic in January 2013.
Olympic is a very quiet unassuming reindeer who often lingers away from the herd, often behind one of us. I used to think he just enjoyed our company, perhaps he does, but I also think he is a reindeer that is quite easily bullied by others and so the company of a kindly reindeer herder is often preferable.
Even at feed time, although he likes being hand fed he is not pushy about it, standing patiently beside us until a handful of feed or better still, a bag of feed, is offered to him.
Over the years he has been a stalwart of the Christmas teams, in the early years as one of the newbies coming up and now one of the trainers for the newbies. A quiet canny reindeer he is always a favourite among the Christmas reindeer. But now 13 years old the main Christmas work is undertaken by the younger reindeer and Olympic is cherry picked for a local school or community event. Not too far to travel and very easy once you get there!! Sounds like the best events for me to do!
Olympic is a favourite amongst all of us here, the only difference between us all is that I am Olympics favourite herder. I ‘hear’ a sharp intake of breath among my fellow herders, but it is of course true.
Olympic as a 2 year old in July 2014.Olympic and Haricot pulling the sleigh in Glenmore on a training session with Tilly and her grandchildren in the sleigh in October 2023. Olympic is the ‘old pro’ teaching Haricot how it’s done!Olympic mid-parade in Beverley – December 2023.What a handsome lad!
Scruffy reindeer month! Not their most photogenic season but a wonderful time of year nonetheless. The cows and calves left the enclosure to free range in the mountains and the males in our enclosure are looking super with lovely velvet antlers.
3rd of June: Putting out the first batch of cows and calves of 2024.4th of June: The remaining cows and calves in the enclosure are now old enough to mingle with visitors on our Hill Trips.6th of June: The two palest calves of 2024.7th of June: This lad, Espresso, is already very friendly and bold!10th of June: Yangtze saying hello! 13th of June: Isla is back for the summer, hoorah! Here she is spoiling Sherlock! Just for reference Isla is 6ft so Sherlock’s antlers really are that tall!13th of June: The lovely Zoom.16th of June: Gorgeous Winnie on a very soggy day.17th of June: The first harness training session of 2024.17th of June: Druid LOVES feeding out of a white bag but the exact same food offered in a hand , no thank you!18th of June: Ärta looking handsome!19th of June: A trip out to see the free rangers. Found a wonderful bunch all looking very happy and healthy!21st of June: Busby posing beautifully on a rock!23rd of June: Lotti and Amy feeding the herd their breakfast.26th of June: Cameron and the waiting herd.27th of June: Lupin!
Sheena counting reindeer. Lace is the dark reindeer with her head up and antlers visible.
My involvement with the reindeer goes back 30 years when Tilly and Alan were my neighbours and Alex and Fiona where still very wee.
I came up to the Highlands to work at Badaguish Outdoor Centre for people with additional needs before I was due to start a nursing degree . I never left – I fell in love with the mountains, and then a reindeer herder!! And now the reindeer.
Sheena catching up with the free rangers out in the hills.Sheena bringing back Ochil and her calf Vanilla to the enclosure after they spent the summer free roaming.
My wonderful friendly golden retriever Rosie used to end up at Reindeer House after following any walker passing by my house down at Badaguish. Tilly would phone me and I would often end up there socialising, helping out, then for dinner and end up walking home with Rosie after a wee whisky or two!
I eventually went to university but not to study nursing. I did a Honors Fine Art degree in 2004.
Sheena drawing on the hill!
Over the years I have kept in touch with Tilly and the reindeer, volunteering, an extras pair of hands or legs walking out onto the mountains to help herd in the girls for calving or just going up to spy the herd in the summer months on the mountain.
Several years ago, I got a call to work with the team and use my artistic talents for ‘Christmas Fun’ (weekends in December when Santa visits the Paddocks). By this time Fiona was all grown up and coordinating all things Christmas and the herd on Cairngorm along with her mum and the team. Now I am just a regular part-timer in the team.
Sheena doing some harness training with the male reindeer.Sheena and Choc-ice chilling out together.Sheena driving the Christmas lorry!
So, when I am not a reindeer herder you might find me working in my studio at home as an artist, working on some colorful wild abstract paintings. These days I also work on some reindeer crafts, inspired from my trip to Jokkmokk, Sweden in 2020 with fellow reindeer herders Fiona, Joe, and Olly where we stayed with friend Sofia, Mikel Utsi’s great niece. Inspiration for art was everywhere. The snow, visiting herds of reindeer, northern lights, traditional cloths, and traditional food.
That part of Sweden is the capital of Sami culture in Sweden holding the Sami winter festival, which involve reindeer racing, reindeer parades, and all things Sami culture. And I had a wonderful time in the Sami Museum viewing the traditional arts on show. This was very much my inspiration for small reindeer art and crafts for the shop.
The Jokkmokk crew with borrowed dogs! Fiona, Sheena, Olly and Joe.Jokkmokk winter market.Beautiful Sami colours.Some of Sheena’s wonderful things we sell in the shop!Sheena’s lovely dogs – Ginger and her mum Elsie on top of our local hill.Sheena and Oatcake!
Manouk popped into Reindeer House a wee while ago and had picked up this book from a charity shop in Aviemore. It is the Forestry Commission guidebook for ‘Glen More Forest Park’ and has no date on it but was published sometime in the 70s. It has a section about the Cairngorm Reindeer. I had a flick through it and thought others might enjoy the prints and information about the reindeer which was written by Dr Ethel Lindgren (who along with Mikel Utsi, reintroduced the reindeer herd in 1952).
Things have changed a lot in the last 50 years or so. You may read that back in the day some of the reindeer born in the Cairngorms were sold elsewhere and some of them even used for meat. You’ll all be pleased to hear that for a long time now, all of the reindeer born in our herd have been able to live out their natural lifespan (roughly 12-14 years) here in the Cairngorms. Nowadays, we keep our numbers at roughly 150 by controlling how many females we run with a bull during the rut and therefore how many calves we hope will be born each spring time. Below is the article, some photos of the reindeer, as well as some beautiful prints of the Cairngorms. Enjoy!
As it says in the book “Arrangements can usually be made at Reindeer House, a stone-faced lodge east of the Glen More campsite” this is true even today but not for much longer! By the end of 2024 we hope to be operating from the new Reindeer Centre, right next door. Photo from 1962.Outside Reindeer House in 1963 with reindeer Nikka, Per, and hand-reared calf Boko.A herd of reindeer behind Reindeer House in 1963 – this is where our new building will be.
In January 2021 we embarked upon a project of a lifetime here at The Cairngorm Reindeer Centre. For many, many years we have operated out of Reindeer House, with a modest shop/reception area and to say the least a cramped office.
Visitors arriving would sometimes come in and say ‘where’s The Cairngorm Reindeer Centre’, slightly incredulous that our place, with such a grand name was so small and homespun. But equally many of our visitors and supporters have loved the way it is and I suspect are slightly worried that any change may be for the worse.
We hope the new Centre will bring as much joy as this to everyone who visits the new Exhibition and Paddocks! Photo by Joanne Weston, taken in October 2023. Thanks for sharing it with us!
But please be rest assured that the reindeer, the herders and the passion for our unique herd of reindeer will be no less than it already is and our new facility will tick lots of boxes for everyone, whether able or unable to make it out onto the hill to see the free-ranging herd. It will also be a game changer for our dedicated reindeer herders who will be able to work out of a purpose built work place where they can ‘come in from the cold’, dry their clothes and work in a comfortable spacious office with a dedicated area to have a break.
Taking down the old Exhibition in January 2024 – the end of an era!A tractor was recruited from the farm to help with the clearing of the old Exhibition.The clearing continues.
The site for the new building is in our reindeer Paddocks, which is quite a steep bank, so there was an initial dig out to provide a flat surface at the same level as Reindeer House on which to place the foundations. That started in mid February and without a doubt the snowless winter worked in our favour. Since than the foundations have been laid, the concrete floor poured in and then in a flash a very large crane arrived, the site was buzzing with tradesmen and a lorry came with prefabricated panels. The crane lifted the panels on to the site and the internal walls and roof of the building went up in double quick time.
A great big hole!The gabion baskets go in behind where the new building will be – March 2024.The freshly poured concrete floor.
Right from the start, after we received an extremely generous donation from a long term supporter the process of finding an architect, doing a feasibility study, drawing up plans and finally going for planning permission has been seamless. Much credit needs to go to our architect Catriona Hill, from Oberlanders, who has been our guiding light/guardian angel throughout the process. And here we are now more than half way through the construction and a completion date pencilled in for the end of October.
By the middle of May we could really see what space we will have for our shop, exhibition, reception area, toilet, office, plant room and staff room. We are limited for space because we still need as much room as possible for the reindeer Paddocks, but we are extending their range into the wood to provide them with shelter from the hot sun and rain (they of course won’t need shelter from the snow!).
And just like that, within a few days the building went up and the roof went on.The new Exhibition space.Huge window in the Exhibition!
So, when we are all finished and everything is open as normal visitors will arrive and come into the new Centre before making their way through the new exhibition and on to the reindeer out in the Paddocks. With the incredibly successful crowd funding we will be kitting out the inside of the Centre and the Paddocks with all our fascinating facts about reindeer, the history of the herd and the amazing world of reindeer herding. We also intend to have some immersive film of our reindeer in the different seasons. In particular to be able to show visitors, who are unable to walk out onto the mountainside just how friendly and well adapted our reindeer are to their mountain environment.
Who takes a holiday at the beginning of May? Yep, three full-time reindeer herders! Myself, Fiona, and Lotti got back on the 8th of May to 13 calves already romping around on the hill. What a treat to see them all and catch up properly on all the news from home.
We got straight in to the thick of it and the calves kept on coming. Hill Trips were fully booked during the bank holidays and Whitsun Week. We had some shorts and t-shirt weather and some FULL waterproofs and warm hat kinda weather. We’ve also been busy in the office running our Crowdfunder campaign which is going incredibly well (please check it out here if you haven’t seen it yet: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/a-reindeer-experience-for-all). Adoptions are still flying out the office and the June newsletter is being written. Oh, and the brand-new Reindeer Centre went up before our eyes in around 3 days in the middle of the month! An action-packed month!
Just a reminder – we won’t reveal the names of the new mothers until after we’ve let our adopters know in the June newsletter so I’ve tried to be deliberately vague. Enjoy… !
8th of May: On my first day back to work I have the pleasure of being the first person to lay eyes on this tiny lass. Ignore her blue toes – we always spray their navel with an antiseptic spray and I accidently got her foot!10th of May: As I fed the cows and calves this little dude comes to say hello.11th of May: The father to around half of this year’s calves!! Sherlock looking very proud of himself.15th of May: Little and Large. Big bull Spartan walks past a mum and her new calf!16th of May: Zambezi is no longer a calf! She’s now classed as a yearling, but is still just a beautiful! 17th of May: Calf peek-a-boo! This wee one is still not brave enough to come say hello.17th of May: Calves come in a variety of colours from pale to dark.17th of May: Merida and her seven year old son Dr Seuss sharing a moment together!20th of May: Another cutie with distinctive dark eyebrows.22nd of May: Aztec on a very ‘atmospheric’ Hill Trip! His favourite time of the day is the hand feeding session, this is him recovering.26th of May: Four-day-old calf, he’s small but doing very well!27th of May: This is where we found Ochil this morning! She’d managed to break-in to the lichen store and was having the time of her life.29th of May: A gaggle of chilled out calves on our Hill Trip.30th of May: Dr Seuss again, this time with his younger bro Ärta.
I first visited the Cairngorm reindeer herd in August 2000 and since then have visited on many occasions with my husband and our three daughters.
Over the years we have made badges and paper antlers, hunted for elves, taken countless photos of our daughters sitting on the sleigh outside the shop, handfed the reindeer, and have never tired of the beautiful walk up to the hill enclosure.
Our last family trip was on Valentine’s Day in 2022 when we headed out in the pouring rain on the 11am Hill Trip to visit the free ranging herd high up on the mountain. It was following that trip that I heard about the chance to apply to become a volunteer and spend a week helping out at Reindeer House and decided to apply.
Jayne’s husband and daughter smiling despite the rain thanks to Gloriana. Hard to believe this soggy experience made Jayne wish to volunteer with us!
In October 2023 I packed my tent and drove up from Lancashire to spend the week at Glenmore. I was rather apprehensive turning up at 8am on Monday morning with a rucksack full of waterproofs and sandwiches but I needn’t have worried. I was immediately greeted by a room full of very friendly reindeer herders, several dogs and a handful of puppies!
My volunteer week was action packed. In the morning I helped with handling the reindeer down at the Visitor Centre, feeding them, cleaning up and getting everything ready for visitors to come in at 10am.
During October there is just one Hill Trip a day. I would go up onto the hill, carrying a bag of food and talking to visitors about what I was doing. Each day I would heat up some milk and carry it up the hill in a flask to feed two calves named Winnie and Alba who had been successfully hand reared and were now on the hill with the rest of the herd. Whilst I keep insisting that I don’t have a favourite reindeer I do have a soft spot for Alba!
Winnie and Alba, hard not to develop soft spots for these two girls!
October is the rutting season which was quite eventful! The hill enclosure was being used to manage the annual breeding as well as for daily Hill Trips so there was plenty to do. Two male reindeer had been selected for breeding. Sherlock was out on Silver Mount with some of the females whilst Jelly Bean was in another part of the enclosure with some of the other females. Daily checks were made of all the reindeer and extra food provided. It was quite an experience to see these normally very docile males displaying anything but docile behaviour and to see their interactions with the females as they came into season. I was certainly happy to stay behind the fence!
Sherlock out on Silver Mount with Bordeaux, one of his selected cows.
Volunteering in October also meant that I got the opportunity to be involved in the first week of the Christmas sleigh training. I’ll never forget being pulled up the hill from Glenmore Visitor Centre in a Sleigh!
Jayne at the front of the sleigh in hi-vis, on crowd control duty.
I learnt so much that week and thoroughly enjoyed it so it was no surprise to my family when I asked if they would mind if I abandoned them once again this year to spend another week volunteering.
My return to Glenmore was sooner than I imagined and I was back again at the start of May 2024 – approximately 220 days since my last visit – which quite coincidentally happened to be about the same period of time as the average gestation period for a reindeer!
How lucky was I – having experienced the madness of the rutting season I was now in the thick of the calving season.
One of our gorgeous calves.
Three calves had already been born when I arrived on a wet bank holiday weekend and over the course of the week that I was there another 12 were born on the hill.
During my second stint as a volunteer there was no Paddocks and Exhibition to attend to as it has been knocked down over the winter and is in the process of being rebuilt. There was plenty to do though with two Hill Trips a day, plus an early morning walk to find reindeer, check on them, locate newly born reindeer and help with a whole host of other daily jobs to be done.
New mum Vienna and calf Mocha.
Watching how quickly the calves developed and became so sure footed in such a short space of time was amazing and as the new mums relaxed into motherhood it was a joy to just sit and watch them interact. It’s hard to imagine that in just a few weeks the mums and calves will be out free ranging across the Cairngorm mountains.
During the time I have spent with everyone who works with the Cairngorm Reindeer I have learned so much about these beautiful animals. I have thoroughly enjoyed helping to take visitors up onto the hill, telling them about the reindeer and talking to them about all sorts of things!
Sherlock looking a bit different from Jayne’s last visit.Zambezi and Shannon now yearlings in May 2024, in the previous October these were some of the calves that were being trained to walk behind the sleigh.
I feel so privileged to have had this opportunity and am rather hoping that I will be allowed back again next year ….
As we are now in calving season, I have recently heard myself saying “she looks just like her big sister when she was a calf” or fellow reindeer herder Lotti saying “she looks exactly like her mum as a newborn”.
So, it got me thinking, perhaps it’s time for another blog about family resemblances.
Emmental’s boys!
Emmental in 2020, with her pale coat and white nose.
Emmental is a beautiful, mature breeding female, now aged 11 years old. She is rather pale in colour with a white muzzle. Over the years she has been a successful mother and has three surviving sons named Olmec, Iskrem and Ob. Yes, we chose names all beginning with vowels. But that’s not their only similarity. They also all have white noses, just like mum! Looking back through photos of them all as calves it’s easy to confuse who is who.
Emmental herself aged four months old, in 2013.Olmec as a four month old calf in 2016.Olmec as an adult with very similar face markings to his mum!Iskrem also at four months old with the same beautiful colouring. Emmental with her calf six-month-old calf Ob who also has the white nose (November 2023).
Pony’s girls!
Pony was a rather notorious reindeer in our herd with serious amounts of attitude! She was born in 2011 and sadly passed away a couple of years ago aged 11, which is a fair age for a reindeer. She left us with four surviving offspring – two males Poirot and Cowboy, and two females called Suebi and Turtle. It’s the girls who can sometimes make me confused! Their both normal-coloured, their antler shapes are similar, and they have also both inherited some of Pony’s attitude! We have nicknamed Turtle, “Snapping Turtle” as she often waves her head and smacks her lips at us if we can walk past her too closely.
Pony in 2016 aged 5. Pony herself was very easy to recognise as she was missing the tips of her ears, but look at the shape of her antlers compared to her daughters Suebi and Turtle…Suebi in 2019 aged 3.Turtle in September 2023, also aged 3.Just for good measure, here’s Pony as a three year old too! Note lack of ear tips so very easy to identify.
Suebi and Turtle are both breeding females. Suebi has the lovely Scoop, a two year old male, and also is the mother of the twins Elbe and Alba. Turtle has Amur, who has just turned one and is proving to be a very sweet-natured lad. Time will tell whether they produce any lookalike females!
I’ll leave it there for now but who knows, perhaps I can write a third installment in the future as there are lots of other examples within the herd.
