The start of May was a whirlwind! The first calf of the year was born on the 25th of April, then the cows left us in suspense for a whole week until the 2nd of May until the next one came along. It was then a flurry of calves being born all over the place – we had 19 within one week! Calving then slowed down and things became a bit calmer with the last one found on the 28th. In general we’ve had a very successful month and the vast majority of the calves and their mums are already out free roaming in the hills – I can’t wait to head out to see them over the summer.
On top of this we’ve also had two Hill Trips a day and all the usual business in the office. So I’ll leave it there and just let you enjoy the cute pictures…
As 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.
1st of May: Brew bored of me talking on a Hill Trip and finding a comfy seat on my rucksack! I’m sure a lot of visitors would empathise with her – I do tend to go on a bit.1st of May: Sisters Zambezi and Juniper hanging out together.6th of May: A gorgeous newborn male calf.6th of May: Bordeaux and Turtle wondering what I’m up to on another beautiful day. I’m starting to forget what rain feels like!7th of May: Amazon looking beautiful whilst out free ranging in the hills!7th of May: Druid is a shy boy and doesn’t handfeed but he loves eating from the white bag at the end of the visit, as you can tell from the crumbs on his nose!9th of May: Choc-ice is a bold and rather cheeky fella! 12th of May: This gorgeous wee one is just over a week old and already very settled around us, so long as mum isn’t too far away!12th of May: A beutiful female calf.12th of May: Cameron walking a calf into the ‘nursery’ area of our enclosure, the mum is just ahead, off camera and this wee one is less than 12 hours old.13th of May: Andi feeding the main herd in the enclosure. Look at the size of Sherlock’s antlers next to everyone else! Busby closest to camera. 13th of May: A beautiful calf chilling out in a bog!14th of May: Another gorgeous calf!14th of May: Three ‘normal coloured’ calves in the wrong place on the other side of a fence to their (unconcerned) mums! Who do you belong to?! 14th of May: Another calf cooling down in a bog. Look at that row of bottom teeth! 17th of May: Spartan tapping his antlers encouraging their growth.18th of May: The first batch of calves getting walked out! Here’s Cameron walking with a mother and her calf following on behind. 18th of May: Free ranging mother and calf! A beautiful evening waving them off! 18th of May: Another calf now free ranging in the hills for the summer. Good luck wee one!19th of May: Kuksa yawning after a Hill Trip. Tiring work being this cute!21st of May: A really funky coloured calf! What a cutie.23rd of May: One year old Chai having a suckle from mum Cheer. Usually the calves stop suckling long before this but Cheer and Chai remain closely bonded.27th of May: How Jimmy spent the majority of my Hill Trip – at my side giving me the puppy dog eyes!28th of May: Another reindeer calf just for good measure!28th of May: Elbe, the twin brother to his more famous sister Alba, looking great.29th of May: Some of our gorgeous boys – Jester, Kulfi, Busby, Mivvi and Olmec.
I was having a photo clear out the other day (my phone is embarrassingly full of reindeer photos) and realised I have taken lots of photos of Cuppa over the past 12 months. Florence, Cuppa’s mum, was my “calving bet” so I think I was particularly invested in her wee boy! For any reader unfamiliar with the herder’s annual calving bets you can read this blog here. So, here’s a collection of photos to see how the little fella has grown up over the past year.
Florence and her new born boy! He was born on the 22nd of May 2024, this was taken a few days later on the 26th.Florence’s calf also on the 26th of May – just look at those “eyebrows”! 10th of June – Cuppa next to his mum a few weeks later and already bigger and bolder. He headed out to free range for the summer the next day.19th of June: I was lucky enough to bump into Florence and Cuppa whilst they were out roaming freely in the hills. They looked so happy up in lovely herd of other cows and calves.This is from the same day as above but just makes me smile – Florence coming over to say hello and Cuppa behind with those distinctive brows!The next picture I have of Cuppa is this one from September the 15th so a jump of 3 months. It’s actually Andi’s photo after Cameron successfully caught him and put him on a halter so they could be walked back into the hill enclosure. What a size difference compared to June! He’s now in his smart summer coat and has grown antlers. Mum Florence is on the left, Lolly is on the right.This is Florence and Cuppa in the hill enclosure on the 3rd of October. Compared to the other calves, Cuppa is one of the smallest of 2024. We believe he had a illness in late summer/early autumn, just before coming back into the hill enclosure from the free range. As you can see he’s cast his antlers already – often a sign of illness. Thankfully with some extra food and Florence by his side he’s rallied around and has grown in to a cheeky confident wee reindeer as you’ll see…13th of December – Cuppa and Florence looking great! Compared to the last photo you can see his winter coat has really grown through… and Florence has broken an antler. 15th of January – After Cuppa attended a couple of Christmas events and with the Christmas holidays over, the pair are now now back out free ranging in the hills and doing really well, he’s never too far from Florence.13th of February – Cuppa and Florence in the sunshine. He’s growing in confidence and cheekiness by the day!26th of February – The pair up high on a ridge before being moved down for the daily Hill Trip. Cuppa clearly wanted a lie-in this morning. 12th of March – Winter is back! Cuppa and Florence on the 7th of April 2025. The pair are often still together but as you’ll see from the photos rather than being rather shy and sticking behind Florence, Cuppa is now much bolder and comes extremely close on the hunt for food.Cuppa on the 25th of April. Cuppa has remained close to Florence’s side for the last 11 months but now he’s almost a year old, they have been separated. Cuppa has joined up with a big herd of male, at our second site in Glenlivet. He’s doing really well and as you can see is beginning to grow another set of antlers. Meanwhile…… Florence is doing well and is having a well-deserved year off from motherhood, which means she’ll be able to spend the vast majority of it free ranging in the hills. Here’s Florence (and her mum Spy behind) on the 29th of April enjoying herself on the free range and beginning to grow a lovely set of new antlers.Cuppa on the 18th of May – a few days before his 1st birthday!
We often get asked by visitors what we do when we’re not up leading the Hill Trips. Being a Scottish reindeer herder is a really varied job, and in the past year as we’ve moved into our new building it has been even more so! Here are a few photos from the past few months:
What people think we spend all our time doing – a snowy day moving the free-range herd across the mountains with CamHow does it look?? Trying out different positions for the antler decor in our new shopBuilding new welly racks! Testing my DIY skills (or lack of) to the limit…Team effort unloading several trailers of wood chip into the new Paddock area.Hanging out with Winnie.A day refreshing our first aid skills, though we hope to avoid using them!Another snowy morning moving the herd into position for the Hill TripHelping with landscaping in the Paddock area.Tree planting alongside our new exhibition area.Coffee “supervising” whilst I poop-scoop!Finding a very old bit of cast antler on the mountain, Building many racks for storing all of our things!Appreciating Sundae’s beautiful nose!
We’re already into calving season 2025, but I’m still finding it hard to believe last year’s calves are already turning into yearlings! In this photo blog you can see Latte grow up from a newborn to a one year old.
Latte was born to mum Brie on the 7th of May 2024. This is them on the 11th of May, Latte is just 4 days old and aleady quite brave coming to say hello.On the 3rd of June we opened the gates and Latte went off to free roam for the summer with her mum, in a herd of other mothers and calves. Latte is in the middle of this photo.On the 19th of June I was lucky enough to bump into Brie and Latte whilst they were out free ranging in the hills. They both looked great, although Brie looked rather scruffy as she’s starting the moult.Another photo from the 19th of June – what a cutie!Andi’s photo from an adventure out on to the free range in mid July – Brie now looking much scruffier but her darker summer coat more visible underneath and larger velvet antlers than her last appearance in this blog. Latte is also moulting her calf coat.Latte and big sister, Beret, on the 11th of September, both now back in the hill enclosure after a summer of free ranging. Both girls have lovely matching white noses, just like their mum.Latte and Brie in October 2024 both growing in their beautiful fresh winter coats.Just a silly photo of Latte from November.Latte out on a local Christmas event at Landmark in December 2024. As a female Latte won’t do any other Christmas work in the future but getting her out a wee bit with a team of big boys means she’s de-senitised to many things, very tame and used to being on a halter, and therefore super easy to work with whilst back home in the mountains.Latte on a sunny day in February 2025 – she’s been back out free ranging since the end of the Christmas holidays.Brie and Latte (with a mouthful of lichen!) in March 2025. She’s recently cast an antler. Latte on a glorious day in early April 2025, now with no antlers!23rd of April – Brie and Latte in the hill enclouse. Latte is just beginning to grow her second set of antlers.Brie and Latte on the 6th of May – the day before her first birthday! Well done Brie for rearing such a lovely lass!
April has been a glorious month! The first half of it was wall-to-wall sunshine for what felt like weeks on end. The reindeer were on the move quite a lot so it meant some big walks getting them each morning keeping us all fit. By the middle of the month we brought some of our (hopefully) pregnant reindeer into the enclosure so it’s been a busy time with reindeer everywhere: on the free range, in the enclosure, in the Paddocks, and of course over with Tilly at the farm. The Paddocks was very busy during the holidays with visitors and even though the Exhibition isn’t ready yet we’ve got a wee quiz for kids, lots of information boards to read, and of course four beautiful reindeer on display! Hopefully everybody who visited had an enjoyable time.
Very excitedly we’ve also had our first calf of the season!! A lovely wee boy who is doing incredibly well. Hopefully the May photo blog will be packed full of calves!
5th of April: Solero is looking fantastic at the moment. She’s in excellent condition and is just beginning to grow her antlers.5th of April: Whilst customers are allowed to bring dogs into the shop in the new Centre, staff have to keep dogs next door at Reindeer House. This is Elsie and Ginger waiting patiently for us at 5pm telling us it’s time to go home!6th of April: Winnie leading the free ranging herd. 7th of April: Feta and her son Earl Grey looking great on a beautiful spring day. 9th of April: Lotti and I had a wonderful morning retrieving the free roaming herd. They were quite high up, above the cloud.9th of April: Almost three-year-old Lolly and her mum Oatcake hanging out together. 9th of April: Moving the herd down to the Hill Trip location. This photo makes me laugh! Unfortunately I didn’t notice the photo-bomber until afterwards and my ID isn’t good enough to work out who it is.9th of April: Sherlock and his ridiculous antlers! He looks like he should be in June, not April, with the size of those antlers!10th of April: Lapsang relaxing after a Hill Trip. 10th of April: Shannon cooling her feet down in a bog.12th of April: Scully has spent the winter free ranging at our second site. She’s now back in the enclosure and is in excellent condition. 14th of April: Colorado is a going to be two on the 1st of May. He’s a very handsome boy!15th of April: Amazon is such a beauty! She will turn two on the 3rd of May.16th of April: Turtle coming in to say hello and see what’s in my white bag! She can be a little fiesty so I wasn’t entirely sure whether she was about to tell me off or not – on this occasion she didn’t thankfully! 18th of April: Hopscotch and Juniper eating from the same pile of food – mother and her almost 5 year old daughter!23rd of April: Dante looking beautiful and just beginning to grow his antlers.24th of April: Sheena and I caught up with some of the free rangers. This is Nuii leading the way.24th of April: Sika looking great for almost 17, and Hobnob behind will be 16.25th of April: Fab being inquisitive.25th of April: Two brothers, Espresso and Colorado, hanging out together. 28th of April: The first calf of the year!! Already very bold and coming over to say hello to Lotti!29th of April: Mississippi and her mum Holy Moley came into the enclosure by themselves to check in, after being out free ranging in the hills. Always a joy to see the free rangers wander in!30th of April: Sorbet, Vanilla, and Hopscotch on another beautiful day!
