‘An Dàmhair’ is the Scottish Gaelic for the month of October (roughly pronounced ‘an daah ver’).

This is originally from ‘an damh-dàir’, which means the deer roaring time and of course in reference to the rutting season that we are currently experiencing in the Highlands. Anyone living in the local area or staying in the hotel just now will be hearing the sound of the stag roaring in the hills that surround us and it is a lovely sound to hear.

Scott Mackenzie, the gamekeeper for Fearann Eilean Iarmain, is very busy at this time of year and is out on the hill monitoring the deer population and is well used to seeing the stags sizing up each other as they compete for control of the hill and of course the hinds! ‘Damh’ in Gaelic means a stag and is generally considered to be young stag up to four years in age. After that, they were referred to as being ‘làn-damh’ or reaching full maturity.