UK's barren arctic alpine zone where reindeer herds roam free

Dominated by mighty hills, glens, lochs, rivers and forests, in the central Highlands lie the Cairngorms — home of an artic alpine environment with Scotland's only free-roaming reindeer herd.

The Cairngorms are a vast plateau in the mid that are classified as Here you will find Scotland's only free-roaming reindeer herd. For thousands of years the animals dominated these hills, but were eventually lost due to hunting and climate pressures.

The UK remained free from the majestic, Christmas-linked beasts, until the 1960s, when a new herd was introduced. They have been roaming free ever since and currently consists of around 150 reindeer. They range on the Cairngorm Mountains and Glenlivet Estate, which are 30 miles apart. Visitors can participate in a guided Hill Trip to see the reindeer, where they can get up close and even feed the herd. It costs £23 per adult, and £16 per child.

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The Cairngorm reindeer herd founders - Dr Ethel Lindgren and her husband Mikel Utsi - originally visited the area whilst on their honeymoon and quickly identified it as the ideal place for the lost population to be rebuilt. “Looking across Rothiemurchus Forest to the Cairngorms from the railway bridge at Aviemore on a cold morning in April 1947, I was instantly reminded of reindeer pastures in Lapland… species of ground, rock and tree lichens, which are elsewhere the chief food of reindeer, were plentiful and of little use to other animals," they once said of their decision.

The Cairngorms is the UK's largest National Park, and throughout the year visitors can enjoy watersports, snowsports, wildlife watching and great scenic walks.

In the middle of spring, the herd is joined there by a true Highland specialist, the dotterel. These trusting little birds return to the Highlands from North Africa to breed, flitting around the melting snow patches in search of food. In recent years the species has seen a dramatic decline as climate pressures have taken their toll on the small population on the southern edge of its breeding range.

Both animals can be seen in the BBC's new series , which will air on Sunday October 6, at 8pm on BBC 2. Filmed in hundreds of locations from remote islands to busy cities, Scotland the New Wild has been more than three years in the making. The trilogy transmitted in the UK on BBC Scotland and BBC iPlayer before playing across the world.

The three episodes, titled Islands, Lowlands and Highlands, are full of spectacle and surprise from rutting red deer stags in the glens to battling grey seal bulls on remote islands and the beauty of the outer Hebridean Machair. Other highlights include the urban beavers of Perth, dashing peregrine falcons above the streets of Edinburgh, miniature wonders like the aphid-farming wood ants and the astonishing bog raft spider – an invertebrate that walks on water.

Jackie Savery, executive producer of Scotland The New Wild, said: “People think they need to travel abroad to see exciting wildlife but in fact the wildlife and scenery of Scotland really is world class - from comical puffins to temperate rainforests, roaring deer stags to giant basking sharks! This uplifting series hopefully inspires people to want to see and protect all these special species and places”