The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

11/09/2026

Emm's blogs are back! Enjoy part one of Emm's visit back in March

The first few minutes of my stint working in March started with a bang! Daisy Kate and I got in the reindeer van to go to the hill enclosure. As Daisy drove away she forgot the drain pipe was on the ground outside Reindeer House and she drove over it and there was a loud...

10/09/2026

From burnt ground new life emerges...

06/09/2026

We've had sunshine and showers all week which has lead to some SPECTACULAR rainbows! 🌈

At the end of this rainbow is 4 year old Rocket - named after the ice lolly!

04/09/2026

Sleigh training has started for our latest cohort of Christmas reindeer! 🔔

This was Yukon's first time pulling the sleigh and he was an absolute pro, alongside our 'trainer' reindeer Lupin (hiding behind Lotti). At the back of the sleigh we had Busby and Scoop who also took a turn pulling the sleigh.

When we train our reindeer to pull a sleigh, we always have the newby alongside an experienced sleigh puller. The newby takes their lead from the older reindeer and copies what they do.

04/09/2026

It's blog time! This week you're in for a real treat as we celebrate the cuteness of a reindeer boop!

As we all know, reindeer are truly beautiful animals. Herds running through deep snow, keeping pace with one another, crossing burns in such a fast paced grace. The sounds of their clicking heels and the moving snow all you can hear. Seeing them at sundown with their antlered silhouttes standing ato...

31/08/2026

We have a few of the cows and calves back in the hill enclosure now, who are currently making our lives hard by sitting round the back of the enclosure hill each morning, meaning we frequently have to walk out to retrieve them. Can't complain too much when the weather is nice though, like this day last week! Here's Pumpkin and Feta and their calves heading in past Black Loch as the sun burns through the mist.

28/08/2026

It is the last Friday of the month! Hope you all enjoy this month's photo blog.

Normality has resumed and over the last month we have welcomed our lovely visitors to our site in Glenmore and have also caught up with a few of our cows and calves. They're all looking well and have had a good summer out on the free range! 1st of August: With the ski road still...

26/08/2026

Last month it was fire all over the mountains... this month it's SPIDERS!

Though actually they are meant to be there and are not at all unwelcome (unlike the fire)! But these misty mornings pick out the cobwebs beautifully. Any spider experts out there who can tell us what species are most common here on the moorland?

25/08/2026

The rut is just around the corner... Whilst we haven't yet decided which bulls we'll breed from this year, Iskrem has made it clear that he is ready, just in case we require him!

Stripping the velvet skin from the antlers occurs once the antlers are fully grown and calcified, and the blood supply has cut off so the velvet is then just a layer of dead tissue that strips away. It looks gory but there is no feeling left in the antlers, so it's not painful at all.

24/08/2026

Ob is one of our very handsome 3 year olds!

At three years old, he's pretty much fully grown and has also grown an EPIC set of antlers. 🥳