April started with snow showers and continued with frequent snowy showers higher in the hills nearly to the end of the month. Throughout the month we have definitely started to see the signs of spring lower down, with the Blaeberry beginning to flower and the mountain flora becoming greener!
Our female reindeer enjoyed a few more weeks out on the free range before we moved them into our hill enclosure in preparation for the Calving season; there are definitely a few big bellies and udders starting to form. Every year the reindeer herders partake in a calving bet which involves us choosing a reindeer and hoping that they are not the last to calve. If they do, we are required to bake a cake for us to enjoy when we name the calves in September; it isn’t the worst if you lose the calving bet. Some herders chose strategically and others chose their favourite reindeer, so by the end of April all the calving bets are in, and it has become a waiting game!
1st of April: After taking visitors out to see the reindeer in the morning, when there was no snow, this was an absolute treat to find them again in the afternoon! You can see Disco on the left, Sundae behind her, Turtle on the right and Tetley.2nd of April: Disco has lost one of her antlers over night. Here is Disco and Latte leading the herd over the the Hill Trip spot. 3rd of April: A trip to see the reindeer over on our Hill farm. From left to right we have Caterpillar, Mangetout, Merida, Spartan, Hemp, Oatcake, Spy, Pumpkin, Brie, Mushy and Busby 4th of April: Beautiful Amazon looking for extra food after the Hill Trip. Over the last year Amazon has grown in confidence and is very greedy.5th of April: As you can seen the snow hung around lower down for a few days. Here is Chai and Camomile scouting out whether i’ll offer more food.7th of April: A suprise visit from Ruth and Baby M9th of April: Despite Cheer having an epic set of antlers, this didn’t deter Trilby from a bit of antler sparring. At the time, Trilby only had half of one antler left. They will both soon lose these antlers in preperation for a new set to grow.10th of April: Hopscotch and Foxtrot leading the herd over a steep sided ridge, the herd didn’t bat an eyelid, and it often amazes me the places the herd chooses to rest. 15th of April: Ryvita, Sika, Christie and Winnie in the Mid ground. Ryvita has the start of her new antlers growing. I often find at this stage the reindeer often look a little like Giraffe. 16th of April: Tetley with Latte excelling at jumping the burn in the background. Turns out reindeer can be agile!18th of April: Our cows and calves are now in our hill enclosure before we split our pregnant females, who will stay in the hill enclosure for the calving season which will start in May. Here is lovely Shannon enjoying some feed after the Hill Trip.19th of April: Before coming over to our hill enclosure, Brie spent her time free ranging at our secondary site. 21st of April: Here come the boys! Dr Seuss (on the left) and Cowboy (on the right) leading the boys up for their feed.
A Christmas Eve tradition of my family is to go see the reindeer parade in Kingussie. When I was younger I often got to go on the sleigh, of course to my delight. Last year Fiona surprised me and I got the chance to pull the front of the sleigh with Akubra and Poirot. This year I had a feeling it would happen again and it did! However, Fiona did give me a warning in the lorry this time. She is known to surprise you…
Maisy with Poirot and Akubra at the 2024 Christmas Eve parade in Kingussie.Maisy on the sleigh as a wee girl!
As a Christmas present to my family this year, I decided to take them up the hill to see the reindeer. The Centre is closed on Christmas Day but the reindeer in the enclosure still need to get their feed for the day. Fiona said if no one else said they’d do it; I could with my family. After a bit of persuading they agreed, and I took a couple from my family and a few friends up the hill. You can’t get a better Christmas than that! All photos here are taken by either myself, my dad or my brother.
When we got to the enclosure, we had all the reindeer on Cairngorm waiting for us. The girls who were on the free-range were asking for a wee bit of extra food too. We picked up the food for the reindeer in the enclosure and headed up the hill. It was a frosty morning and cold, but it was so beautiful. The sun even came out for a while which was lovely. We were all wrapped up but of course the reindeer were very well insulated with their winter coats. We usually feed the reindeer in the hill enclosure a couple of times a day depending on what time of the year but since we were only feeding them once we had a lot of food to take. Thankfully the team on Christmas Eve took it all up to the bins on the hill so we didn’t have to carry it all the way up.
My cousin Magnus leading the reindeer up the hill.
We wandered around the hill introducing the reindeer and answering questions all about how awesome they are. We also had our friends Lorriane and Massa too and they were just amazed. It’s so nice to show people that you know where you spend a lot of your time and where you just love to be. I’m sadly coming up to my exams so I will be cherishing my time with reindeer, Christmas definitely wrapped it up so nicely.
We then headed over to see the free ranging reindeer and I hadn’t seen any of those guys in such a long time, so it was so nice to see them. I was rusty at identifying them, so I had to get my trusty back up plan of a photo from the board in the office which keeps track of the whole herd.
The free ranging girls, left to right Nuii, Pumpkin, Brew, Alba, Camomile.
The girls on the free range haven’t had a chance of hand feeding for quite a while due to them being on the free range for the past year or so. Some exceptions for a couple of the breeding females. They can sometimes be quite wild and excited when they haven’t been around people for a wee while. I turned around to swap bags with my mum as I had an empty sack and she had a full bag of hand feed. As I turned, I saw my mum standing there whimpering. Ryvita, a 14-year-old female with no antlers, had her nose right up against her bag. I hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time. Sadly, no one was quick enough to get a photo or video of the moment of her being scared out of her mind.
Latte being a yearling is now getting to enjoy free ranging on the mountains.
For my Dad’s Christmas present, (which he didn’t know at the time as I’m a very last-minute person who left it too late,) was an adoption of Vanilla. You can find out what you get if you were to adopt a reindeer here. We’ve been in the hills together quite a few times and when we’ve come across a few reindeer, she’s usually always there. She’s such a beautiful girl and every time he always gets a good photo of her, so I thought they’d be a good match.
Vanilla posing on Christmas Day beautifully.
Sadly, not everyone was able to make it on the 25th so I promised to take them up another time. That just happened to be on the 3rd of January. I took my brother and his girlfriend up the hill on a very snowy day. It feels like magic when you’re with the reindeer in the snow, kicking the snow up to get the lichen and deer grass, or them walking in the snow easily while all the humans are falling in streams and falling down snowholes. Although in typical Maisy fashion, I faceplanted off the boardwalk in front of a whole group of visitors.
99 and Cowboy begging Maisy to give them more hand feed.
I sadly had not learnt my lesson and buried my hand feed bag underneath the snow because the reindeer kept pestering me when holding it. I’m not saying any names, but it wasn’t Dr Suess, Cowboy and Tub. I then had a hard time trying to get their big noses out of the bag within all the snow, if you know anything about trying to get a Christmas reindeer nose out of a white bag it’s hard considering their brain is controlled by their stomachs. Which is the same with me, I’ll be honest.
Holy Moley enjoying the winter which has finally arrived.
The reindeer look magnificent in the snow when it all just sits on their nose, and of course it doesn’t melt because they are so well insulated that they don’t let the heat out to melt the snow. However, all the humans do not look magnificent and are bumbling around in the snow trying not to fall in a snow-covered burn. Unfortunately, yes, three of us did fall in the same burn at the same time.
Popsicle dunked her nose into the snow.Orinoco in the snow.
They couldn’t get rid of me that quickly. As the next day I came back up to Glenmore the to go up a Meall a’ Bhuachaille with Sanna and Echo the dogs. The best hill in Scotland and some of the best snow I have ever seen up there. So much fun although, so much more energy goes into walking in deep snow especially at some points I was sinking above my hips and the dogs kept vanishing under all the powder.
Sanna and Echo between her ears near the summit of Meall a’ Bhuachaille.
As most readers know, we name reindeer on a theme each year. For example, in recent years we’ve had ‘Teas and Coffees’, ‘Rivers of the World’, and ‘Ice Creams and Lollies’ to name just a few. This old blog goes into the themes themselves a lot more.
The majority of the time the calves are given a name within the given theme more or less at random. There’s hundreds of examples of this but to give you one – in 2022 Caterpillar (‘Bugs and Beasties’) had a female calf that we called Popsicle (‘Ice Creams and Lollies’) for no reason other than it fitted the theme and we thought it a suitable name for a sweet female calf.
But sometimes we try to be a bit clever, linking names within the theme to their mother or other family member. This can help us remember who is related to who… or just confuse us completely!
Often, we use an alliteration, for example Brie (‘Cheeses’), had a calf who we named Beret (‘Hats’), who went on to have a calf called Brew (‘Teas and Coffees’). You’ll also notice a French link between Brie and Beret!
Beret and her mum Brie free ranging on Cairngorm. An alliteration and a French link.Beret in 2024, with her daughter who we later named Brew.
Gazelle (‘Horned and Antlered Animals’), now aged 17, is long retired from breeding. She has three surviving sons whose names all begin with an ‘A’ – Aztec (‘Ancient Civilisations’), Athens (‘European Places’), and Adzuki (‘Seeds, Peas, and Beans’).
Aztec – one of the greediest reindeer in the herd. A trait inherited from his mum Gazelle. He tends to grow quite small antlers. Athens, also very greedy, who tends to grow very wide antlers.Adzuki, perhaps the least food-obsessed of the three brothers, who tends to grow very tall antlers.
Emmental (‘Cheeses’) has been a great breeding female over the years – all her offspring have names beginning with vowels just like her – for example Olmec (‘Ancient Civilisations’), Iskrem (‘Ice Creams and Lollies’), and Ob (‘Rivers of the World’).
Emmental and her son Iskrem enjoying the free range.Ob and older brother Iskrem, both with matching white noses.
Sadly, we lost old girl Ibex (‘Horned and Antlered Animals’) in the spring at a grand old age of nearly 17. She had a female calf in 2020 who we named Flax (‘Seeds, Peas, and Beans’) as both their names ended with the letter ‘x’.
Ibex and Flax, mother and daughter, out free ranging together.
Flax has gone on to have three calves so far, her first in 2023 we named Nile (‘Rivers of the World’), the second in 2024 we named Camomile (‘Teas and Coffees’) and the third was another male born this spring. All going well, he’ll get named in early September, so we’ll see if we select a name that rhymes with his older siblings!
Flax and Camomile.Nile, big brother to Camomile.
Pagan (‘Ancient Civilisations’) was a notorious reindeer in our herd who sadly died very suddenly and unexpectedly in 2023. We were all incredibly fond of her despite her bossiness – she was a real character. We managed to name all of her offspring on a Halloween/witchy theme as best we could. Pumpkin (‘Seeds, Beans, and Peas’), Witch (‘Hats’), Zap (‘Ice Creams and Lollies’), and we named Pagan’s last calf who we hand-reared Winnie. Winnie’s name doesn’t fit the theme that year because she had to be named before the theme was even selected but we went for Winnie (or Winifred), after the witch.
Zap – Pagan’s son looking a bit scruffy during the moult. This was the most ‘witchy’ ice cream name we could come up with. We imagined a witch’s wand might make a zapping sound when used!Winnie’s gorgeous nose.
Sometimes the link can be a little more intellectual, surprising I know! Suebi (‘Ancient Civilisations’) had twins in 2023. Her female twin was hand-reared from the age of just three days old (alongside Winnie) and therefore was given the name Alba long before the theme was even chosen. However, the male twin was named in the ‘River of the Worlds’ theme. The Suebi people were a large and powerful group in the Roman era. They originated on the river Elbe, in what is now north east Germany – so this was the perfect name for Suebi’s son. We think the names Alba and Elbe also go very well together.
Suebi and her twins – May 2023.
And finally, sometimes the link is just a bit silly! Hobnob (‘Cakes, Biscuits, and Biscuits’) had a calf in 2020 when the theme was ‘Seeds, Peas, and Beans’. We named her female calf Mushy, after mushy peas. Why did we select the name Mushy for Hobnob’s calf you may ask? Simply because if you dunk a hobnob into a cup of tea, it goes mushy.
Much to Ruth’s despair I am not the best herder when it come to taking pictures of our days on the hill and I most often forget! So, I’ve accumulated a blog of some pictures that I’ve snapped over the last year and will have to apologise in advance as the reindeer sometimes aren’t the main focus.
10th January 2024 – Sheena and Ruth on the winter free range looking towards the Northern Corries (waiting for reindeer) where we enjoyed the most beautiful winter sun.Borlotti on the same day (10th of January).Morven again on the same day, it was a good un!
As some of you guys will know through the winter our Hill Trips head out to see the reindeer whilst they’re out on the mountains “free ranging” and part of our job in the morning is to hike out to the herd and move them closer so our visitors don’t have to walk as far. Here’s a few pictures from a couple of those outings.
Over this week, the reindeer were frequenting the same spot so there were a few mornings we walked out to the same spot looking for the herd. Moments before the first image, Ruth and I were at a loss as we were sure that we should have been in the spot that the reindeer were meant to be and still couldn’t see them.
Retrieval mission of the free rangers for the Hill Trip. I was amazed here at how comfortable the reindeer were on such a steep icy slope in crazy winds – 8th of March 2024.Free range retrieval mission for the Hill Trip – Merida walking towards the camera – 13th March 2024.
There is quite a large jump now to the next picture which was taken in August. During the end of the summer, we keep an eye out for cows and calves that are coming down off the mountain after free ranging. The next picture was taken whilst we were moving a small group closer to our hill enclosure.
15th August 2024 – Cows and calves are returning from the summer free range like Flax and Camomile here.It’s not all about reindeer we try to get creative for birthday cards too! Ginger posing to be incorporated in Sheena’s birthday – 25th of August 2024.
At the end of the summer, we also try to catch up with the older cows too, who often are found in smaller groups. During this “free range” mission I was able to catch up with retirees Hobnob and Fern.
28th of August – Hobnob looking good with lots of lichen beneath her feet!28th of August – Fern, the current oldest reindeer in our herd at 16.5 years old!
Kernel was one of the first bulls to strip his velvet which was a gruesome sight. In the second picture you can see Kernel and Jimmy having a ‘play’ spar with freshly stripped antlers. You can also see how quickly the velvet falls off the antlers as the first picture was taken in the morning and the second on the afternoon Hill Trip of the same day.
31st of August – Kernel beginning to strip the velvet.Later the same day – Kernel and Jimmy sparring mid Hill Trip.1st of September – Enjoying some time with the dream team Alba and Winnie after one of our Hill Trips. Here’s Winnie looking lovely as ever.1st of September – and here’s Alba with a mucky nose!5th of September – Holy Moley in the process of stripping her velvet and has decided to accessorise.12th of September – Like mother, like son. Helsinki and Irish enjoying a snooze after one of our Hill Trips.14th of September – I headed out to see if any other cows and calves had joined up with a group of females that we were monitoring out on the free range, and found Florence and her son, Cuppa. They were the last pair to come back into our enclosure after free ranging.11th of October – The rut has started, and we have Kernel here with some of his girls. At the front is Glacée.
