Spring - The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

3rd July 20263rd July 2026

Calving 2026: That’s a wrap!

Calving 2026 went really well but it’s now all done for another year with the last calf born on 24^th May. It’s an absolute favourite time of year for all the herders welcoming the new additions into the herd and enjoying the few weeks with them before they head onto the free range for the summer. We try to get out when we can to visit them but what happens on the summer free range is completely natural so we don’t always see every calf returning which means it is what it is! I thought I’d write down a few moments that I’ve enjoyed this summer to share our lovely experiences with the reindeer and their calves so here goes:

Calving season of 2026 is all wrapped up and the herd has so many new wondeerful additions!

Filming – Mid May we took part in some filming which you will no doubt see later in the year (watch this space). As a result Andi and I headed onto the hill with a very small film crew of two other people and spent the whole morning hanging out with the herd which was mainly the cows and calves. As there was quite a lot of standing around while they were getting the shots they were after, it’s always during these moments you really get to enjoy being around the calves who are finding their feet within their new environment. Now and again they’d get the zoomies which usually meant mum flying after them trying to keep up and get them back under control… They can also be quite inquisitive and if you stand still long enough then you find a few calves come sniffing round your legs and giving a wee tug on your trousers.

Making the most of all the time we get hanging out with the lovely calves while they’re still tiny before their summer of free ranging.

Another nice moment I had was bringing Lolly and her calf in from our main enclosure which is around 500 acres of hill and forested ground into our smaller ‘creche’ where we keep the cows and calves once they’re born. I first had to locate them and of course they were at the furthest back point of the enclosure in the woodland, so, as I started pushing her back towards the herd the calf kept getting stuck in deep heather. Eventually I decided Lolly wasn’t taking her calf on the best route home so I thought I’d try catching her instead and walk them in via a more sensible and less vegetated route. Lolly is one of these reindeer who it’s hit or miss whether you can catch her to put her on a head collar or not so I was going in with caution, however, she was obviously in a good mood today and I caught her no bother. The three of us then set off, at a very slow pace, back towards our final destination. The calf at this point was only a day old so still pretty doddery… We stopped a couple of times, the calf had a lie down then a suckle of milk from mum then we’d carry on. It was a lovely sunny morning so I didn’t feel like I needed to rush. Both Lolly and calf were totally relaxed. From a reindeer who in the past was never up front and had a shy character Lolly has definitely gone up in my estimations.

Can you spot Lolly’s wee one trying to get through all the deep heather?…

A much easier route… A snack break before continuing on the long journey across the enclosure (long for wee legs anyway).

The last wee story I’ve got for you, or maybe this was more of a challenge during calving time, was when Winnie, our hand reared female from three years ago decided to start calving during one of our guided Hill Trips in front of 40+ tourists… There is a time and place Winnie! Herder Amy swiftly popped her on a head collar and brought her into an area a bit quieter and out popped a little pale coloured female calf. At first Winnie was not impressed by what had just happened and was showing no signs whatsoever of wanting or loving this new addition in life! So, Amy dried off the wee bundle and we all worked out where to go from there. We held Winnie so her calf could get it’s first milk as this is really important, however, her milk wasn’t coming through as it should so I suspect this little lass was premature. We brought her off the hill to our paddock area where we could monitor her more closely and after chatting with our vets decided to give her a hormone injection to help bring her milk on but also help with the bonding.

Winnie and her beautiful calf getting some time together in the barn at the centre.

This worked a treat and 2 hours after her injection she loved her wee calf and was licking her. The calf was still a bit too weak to stand and feed herself so we had to assist, however, with Winnie being so tame this only required some extra lichen (reindeer’s favourite food) for her while we held her calf in place. We did this every 3 hours roughly through the day and her last check/feed was around 10pm and first feed around 5am. The two then joined the reindeer on the hill so the wee calf could learn how to be a reindeer, not a human! Then at the beginning of June they headed for the high tops of the Cairngorms to spend the summer free ranging. With all the extra handling the calf got she was super tame and became a quick favourite amongst us herders.

It didn’t take long for Winnie’s calf to feel well rested and safe around all of the herders.

Here’s to the excitement and cuteness of calving season 2027!

Fiona

19th June 202612th June 2026

Reindeer Metabolism and How it Changes Throughout the Year

The bodies of reindeer go through many changes allowing them to cope with huge temperature difference throughout the seasons. In summer reindeer can cope with temperatures above 30 degrees and the lowest recorded temperature that reindeer have been know to survive is -72 degrees Celsius. Reindeer have two different coats, a thick white winter coat as well as a fine, dark summer coat. Their antlers grow in an annual cycle and the different times of growing and shedding them allows different animals to be dominant at different times of year. One of the most interesting, and important, changes to a reindeer though, you can’t see – their metabolism.

Colorado, Iskrem, Yangtze looking smart in their summer coats.

Reindeer have adapted to eat vast amounts of food throughout the spring, summer and autumn to gain enough weight to survive the winter, when food is scarce. To cope with these changes in food availability their metabolism changes too. In the summer reindeer will graze around the clock, eating a huge variety (between 200 and 300 different species) of plants which are high in nutrition. This allows each individual to grow a new set of antlers, they start to grow in the spring and are fully grown by the end of august and the heaviest set we have had in our herd, weighed a whopping 8.9 kgs. The summer is also the time that the young reindeer grow in body size. Finally, every reindeer will need to gain body fat which will act as reserves over the winter. All these things require their digestive system to work in overdrive converting the food they are eating into energy that can be used by their body to create protein, bone, fat, and whatever is needed.

Ryvita grazing and growing her beautiful antlers.

Cow and calf grazing on the high plateau plants.

On the contrary, winter is all about survival. During the winter most of the plants will have died under the snow and 70% of a reindeer’s diet is made up of lichen. Lichen is a symbiosis of fungi and algae and is very resistant to extreme changes in temperature. Over the winter lichen won’t grow but it will stay dormant, preserved under the snow. Reindeer will then dig down through the snow to reach the lichen. But lichen is relatively low in nutrients, just enough to sustain the reindeer through the winter and their metabolism shifts in line with this. In fact, even if you gave a reindeer a big pile of food, during the winter, they just aren’t as hungry and wouldn’t eat it all.

During the winter reindeer are no longer growing their antlers, they won’t increase their body size at all, a calf will grow lots in the first 6 months of their life and then stay the same size for the next 5 months, until the following spring. They will survive the winter by using their fat reserves. The one important growth that does happen in winter is that of a growing foetus. This is the reason that the females grow antlers and keep them after the males have shed them, as it gives them a physical advantage during the time that they are pregnant and therefore they get first dibs on the food.

*Vienna and Amazon showing off their beautiful antlers right through the winter.*

A group of our males in the winter having cast their antlers.

But how does a reindeer know that it’s time for spring? Rather than responding to food availability or temperature which may well change year by year, the changes in their metabolism are triggered by the changes in daylight. The increased daylight associated with spring is detected by specialised receptor cells in their eyes which then convert to a hormonal signal using melatonin. Melatonin is synthesised during the dark period each day and then synthesis stops during daylight. This means that the amount of melatonin varies based on the time of year. The concentration of melatonin has many effects. In terms of metabolism, in the spring as melatonin decreases, this increases the appetite of the reindeer. In the autumn, as melatonin increases, this decreases the appetite of the reindeer and increases the breakdown of fat stores. The changing melatonin levels also controls their antler growth and release of sex-hormones but that may be another blog in the future.

For anyone particularly interested in a much more in-depth description of the physiology behind these changes, I would highly recommend reading this article.

https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/download/335/327/1280

Glacee, Salsa and the herd enjoying a snowy day!

If you have made it this far, thanks for reading my very nerdy reindeer biology blog! Hopefully you have learnt something and enjoyed the pictures of the reindeer along the way.

Lotti

29th May 202628th May 2026

May photo blog 2026

The month has got away from us somewhat, so this blog is a bit of a mish-mash of photos from several of us, rather than just Amy. Calving season always leaves us battling to get the day to day stuff done – it’s hard enough just keeping the essentials under control, let alone the ‘extras’, such as blogs! It does mean of course that this blog is pretty heavy on calf content, but we didn’t think you’d mind!

1st May – Fiona and friend observing the reindeer.

3rd May – Alicia and Daisy headed out to move the free-range group. Daisy was super excited to spot them!

7th May – Brie (left) hanging out with her adult son Cicero (right). He’s about twice her size!

11th May – Calves coming thick and fast!

12th May – Here is one of our ‘normal’ coloured calves.

14th May – Calves following their mum’s example, so are often happy to investigate us!

16th May – Our cows often head off to find a quiet spot so we do lots of walking round to find them with their new calves. Can you spot the reindeer?

18th May – Lots of spotty white noses this year!

19th May – Sticking close to mum whilst checking out the world.

20th May – Whilst most calves are born strong and capable, occasionally one is a little early. This toot needed a few days down at the Centre with her mum to get them establlished.

23rd May – Cornetto giving relaxing his full effort.

23rd May – Herder Ruth came to visit with her new baby – Fiona meanwhile is sticking to reindeer babies!

23rd May – This wee calf needed a little extra help in her first few days as she was a little premature. Extra love needed too!

23rd May – We check over the newborn calves when they first come into our nursery area – here Hen and volunteer Ruth are under close supervision from mum!

24th May – Whilst the calves are born out in our large hill enclosure, we then bring them into our smaller nursery area. Sometimes their legs get tired – here Daisy has the hard job of providing a taxi service!

27th May – The calves start coming through our handling shed at an early age, to ensure they remain relaxed in the future.

27th May – Caz and Alicia rocking the wide hat/rainbow shorts look

27th May – Old boy Stenoa chilling out in the sun at the farm.

20th June 202511th June 2025

Calving, cuckoos and cotton grass!

Every reindeer herder looks forward to May – it’s pretty much the best month of the year for us with calving time for the reindeer dominating it. But May is also one of my absolute favourite months for other reasons too, the trees are coming into leaf, the plants in my garden are growing like mad, the weather is generally fairly amenable, and the migrant birds are back.

May looks like THIS to reindeer herders!

Mention May to any reindeer herder and calving is – I guarantee – the first thing that pops into their head. Reindeer are very seasonal with their breeding, and whilst the occasional calf might be born in the last few days of April, the vast majority arrive in May every year. Calving is a wonderful time of year for us – who can resist the cuteness of a a newborn reindeer? – though it comes with a fair amount of stress too, as we do our best to keep everyone happy and healthy. You’ll find lots of blogs about calving if you use the search function on the blog page here (only visible on a laptop/desktop) if you’d like to know more. Plus lots of lovely photos – of course!

Calves Gelato and Zoom at couple of weeks old

But I have other connotations for the month of May. The second one are the cuckoos. We’re lucky enough to still get plenty of cuckoos in this area, although nationwide they have declined by about 65% since the early 1980s. Even the least ‘birdy’ person in the UK surely knows their iconic call, and I associate them so much with May. They call from the forest below the reindeer’s hill enclosure all through the month, and the far-carrying sound is so reminiscent of all the early mornings over the years that I have trudged about on the hill side looking for cows with their newborn calves. Cuckoos seem to stop calling earlier than some species, I’ve noticed, and already as I write (early June) I realise that I’m barely hearing them any more. Such a short season, and yet they are utterly ingrained into our conscious in spring! Read more about other migrant species who are summer visitors to us in one of my previous blogs here.

The third thing I really associate with May here in the Cairngorms is the cotton-grass (Hare’s-tail Cotton-grass, to be precise), which grows on acidic moorland and is familiar to many, with it’s bobbing cotton-wool like flower heads.

It’s not actually a grass but a sedge, and some years give particularly good displays, where it can almost look like it has snowed. It comes into flower in May, and grows particularly well in the bottom of our hill enclosure on the flatter areas there, which tends to be where the cows and their calves hang out during the month.

Calving in the cotton-grass… A very grumpy looking Brie with her grey calf Latte, and Peanut and her calf Kuksa in between.

So there we are – the three ‘c’s that are incredibly strongly associated with May to me. The fourth would be ‘chaos’, but that’s part and parcel with calving so can be combined into one!

Hen

6th June 20255th June 2025

Reindeer migration

As the seasons change and we transition from spring into summer our female reindeer will start to move from the lower grounds where they have spent most of the winter, higher onto the hills. This is partly to stay cool as the weather will warm up but also to follow the grazing. In the middle of the winter there will be more snow higher on the hills, meaning further for the reindeer to dig but in the summer the tops of the hills are where the best grazing is.

*Waving the cows and calves off to spend the summer free-ranging.*

For our reindeer this migration may be only a few miles but across the world, reindeer and caribou (which are genetically the same as reindeer but haven’t been domesticated) migrate long distances. In fact, caribou hold the record for the longest land migration of any animal, migrating a whopping 2,000 miles between their summer and winter-feeding grounds. The equivalent records are held by the humpback whale with the longest migration through water of 5,000 miles and the arctic tern with the longest migration through the air with a mind boggling 18,000 miles.

*Long Distance Migration (Varpe and Bauer).*

2,000 miles is still an incredibly long way and takes the caribou first to their spring calving grounds near the coast. The spring calving grounds are highly fertile, providing lots of food for the new mums and free of predators, which is important as the young are born. This sounds like the ideal location to spend the summer and perhaps it would be if it wasn’t for the swarms of mosquitoes that arrive at the start of the summer. These mosquitoes, as well as the warmer weather, drive the caribou to migrate higher onto the hills. They spend the summer grazing on a plethora of different plants and lichens. Summer is a time of abundance in the arctic and sub-arctic regions.

*Lace and Ryvita free ranging in the Cairngorms.*

With long hours of light, the plants grow quickly, and the reindeer will graze on over 200 different species. This allows the reindeer calves to grow quickly, before the winter. It also allows bulls, cows and calves to all grow a set of antlers. The antlers grow over roughly 5 months and can reach a massive size. The largest set we’ve had in our herd weighed 8.9kg for the pair. It is also important that reindeer gain weight in the summer in order to survive the harsh winter.

*Christie’s calf, Espresso, Christie and Borlotti enjoying the best of the summer grazing on the plateau.*

*Glacée and Dante looking fantastic at the end of a summer of free-ranging.*

As autumn approaches the reindeer will migrate yet again. As the temperature drops, there will be less to eat high on the hills so the reindeer will move to the lower hills in search of better grazing. It is also the time of year that the mushrooms emerge so many of the reindeer will come into the edge of the woodland to forage mushrooms. They eat many varieties, but the boletus family are their favourite.

In our herd the female reindeer spend the summer months free-ranging and the males spend it in our hill enclosure. This means there is another drive for the females to come to the lower slopes and into the hill enclosure, the boys! The cows know that the rut is held in our hill enclosure each year so when their hormones tell them it’s time to find a mate, they know where to come!

The migration of the Cairngorm reindeer may be much smaller than reindeer and caribou elsewhere, but it is equally important. It allows the reindeer to move to the best location for each season, following where the best food and climate is.

Lotti

30th May 202530th May 2025

Photo Blog: May 2025

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: 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: 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.

Ruth

25th April 202525th April 2025

Building up to calving

With only a week or so to go until we could be seeing the first reindeer calves born, here are a few things which are preparing us, and the reindeer, ready for the big event. There aren’t any pre-natal classes for the reindeer but there is a pattern that we tend to stick to at this time of year. About 4-6 weeks before calving all our reindeer need an annual vaccination which was done at the end of March. At this time the herd are still free ranging so we brought them into our mountain enclosure for a couple of days for this as it can leave them feeling a little grotty. They then go back onto the free range for a few more weeks.

Zambezi leading the herd down for breakfast under a brilliant blue sky at the beginning of April.

This year we had an extremely hot and sunny start to April. This also coincided with the Easter holidays and the combination meant we were seeing extremely busy hills with day trippers and hikers. The hot weather was a little tough on the reindeer so they’d seek the cooler climes higher on the hill which meant for a longer walk to find them each morning. Of course, us herders had no problem with this, especially as it was cracking weather! We had to be canny about where we left the herd ready for the daily Hill Trip as we didn’t want them to be disturbed. Once we were into the second week of wall-to-wall sunshine the herd split forces and one group headed in one direction and the other group in the opposite direction. This still left a group of around 50 reindeer for hill trips but the other 20 had a 3-4 day ‘time out’ from visitors. Maybe they did it on purpose as it was mainly our older girls! As a result of them naturally splitting and us not wanting to miss the boat in getting pregnant cows in ready for calving we decided that we’d take them in a week earlier than we were planning to, so Kate and I did just that. We split off the pregnant cows, some of their 2024 calves and left out anything that wasn’t in calf so they could continue to free range. It gave us peace of mind knowing that anything due to give birth in a few week’s time were in and away from disturbance in the mountains. The last thing they need before giving birth is to be chased by an out-of-control dog or a drone.

The free roaming herd enjoying the hills in the good weather in early April.

Since, the free-range herd haven’t ventured too far and we catch up with them every few days for a check and a feed. In this group is Winner and Alba (hand-reared calves from 2023) so this is setting them up nicely for remaining on the free range for the whole summer. The cows in the enclosure are getting an easy feed twice a day and everyday their bellies are growing and udders starting to form. It’s exciting to watch this process.

Alba and Winnie have remained out with the free ranging herd.

Sheena checking in with some of the free ranging reindeer.

Ryvita is one of our oldest girls at nearly 16. She’s got the biggest velvet antlers out of all the females at the moment and is looking super. As she is long retired from breeding she’ll now get to spend the vast majority of her life out free ranging in the hills.

Amongst us herders we are all set with our annual calving bet picking a female reindeer who we hope won’t be last to calve, otherwise we will have to do a forfeit. Once upon a time the forfeit was to jump into a very cold loch, however, nowadays so many of us enjoy open water swimming it’s not really a challenge so now the loser has to make a cake in the autumn for when we all get together to name the calves of that year. Much more appropriate I think!

Feeding the herd now in our hill enclosure – lots of wide bellies on the hill!

The pregnant girls in the enclosure get an easy time with us now looking out for them and giving them at least two good feeds per day. Here’s Hopscotch and her almost five year old daughter Juniper eating from the same pile of food.

In the enclosure we’re regularly inspecting the size of bellies and whether there is any sign of an udder. Not sure Hopscotch is impressed!

Fiona

12th July 20242nd July 2024

Heading off for the summer

Back in late May, our thoughts start to turn to getting the cows and calves out of the hill enclosure, so they can spend the summer months free-ranging on the mountains, getting peace and quiet and the best of the grazing, and the cows can teach their calves the lie of the land too. In recent years, we tend to take them out in two batches, allowing each batch to spend a couple of weeks in the main section of the hill enclosure first. This has two-fold benefits – it helps to strengthen the calves as they move around more than they do in the smaller ‘nursery’ area, but most importantly it exposes the calves to visitors. This makes our job in the autumn easier when the female reindeer return to the hill enclosure, as the calves are much more relaxed in amongst people than they otherwise would be – even though they’ve barely laid eyes on a human in the interim.

Setting off up through the top part of the hill enclosure

Prior to leaving the enclosure, the cows and calves are all checked over, and given Spot-on to help ward off ticks. We then halter up all the adult females, as it’s a far less stressful process to just lead the reindeer out of the enclosure rather than to try and herd them. We do this in an evening rather than during the day too, as it lessens the risk of us bumping into hill-walkers, who may have dogs in tow. Any young females of a year old who are tagging along with their mums and new siblings aren’t haltered, as they will just follow anyway.

There’s a lot of grunting to start with, as everyone establishes where their calf is, and the calves wonder why there are so many human legs in their herd suddenly!

Out through the gate at the top of the enclosure

Everyone has settled down and is enjoying the evening wander!

We take the group about a mile or so from the top gate of the enclosure, although the spot we leave them in is only actually a couple of hundred metres from the fence and the far end of the enclosure.

A good year for the cotton-grass this year!

I ran ahead ahead to get some photos, meaning I could sit and relax in the sunshine once I’d got into position!

Progress isn’t particularly fast with so many reindeer on halters, so there was plenty of time to chat along the way!

Some years in the past the cows have taken off at speed into the distance as soon as they’ve got the chance, but this batch were more than happy just to graze and chill out once we’d taken halters off and released them. This little chap (above) was born a bit prematurely, so had to be bottle-fed for a while whilst mum’s milk got going, so he’s very tame!

The face of a Lotti who’s just realised that two birthday cakes and a birthday present have been carried the whole way out as a surprise!

And in classic unpredictable Sheena-fashion – a watermelon! ‘What is the heaviest and most unexpected snack I could possibly bring?!’

Some time to chill out for us too (although the sun had sadly disappeared behind the hill by this point).

At this time of year the reindeer have started moulting around their eyes, their darker summer coat showing through and giving them all ‘panda eyes’.

Heading home! How could I not finish with this photo?

Through the summer months we see very little of the female reindeer and their calves, leaving them to graze in peace after spending around 6 weeks in the hill enclosure. We will head out to look for them occasionally though, when time and weather allow, but the next time we have proper contact with them again is from August onwards, as they start to return to the hill enclosure in dribs and drabs. It’s like catching up with old friends again!

Hen

28th June 202411th March 2025

Photo Blog: June 2024

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!

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!

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!

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.

Ruth

31st May 202411th March 2025

Photo Blog: May 2024

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.

Ruth