Tag: Latte

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Volunteer Blog: Emm’s visit in September 2024

The September visit was very special. We were lucky enough to attend Fiona and Joe’s wedding and celebrations. They got married on top of Meall a’ Bhuachaille, the hill behind Reindeer House. It was a very wet and windy day but it was so special being on top with Fiona, Joe and everyone and the dogs and to see them get married. A person was playing the bagpipes too which was very magical. We all went to the Pine Marten Bar afterwards for some food, drink and dancing. Then there was a fantastic weekend of celebrations at Badaguish involving a second wedding ceremony and wedding photos and of course reindeer. The reindeer who attended were Busby, Magnum, Hemp and Dr Seuss. The weather was so lovely and there were lots of sunshine. The other celebrations included a ceilidh, Highland games, fun run, a loch swim in Loch Morlich, where I paddled this time, and lots of music, food and drink. It was so lovely seeing everyone and it was very being special being part of the really fantastic wedding celebrations.

Fiona and Joe on a very soggy but utterly beautiful wedding day.
Fiona and Joe with Busby, Hemp and Dr Seuss!

I was very lucky enough to be invited to attend the naming meeting of the calves. I sat around the table in the kitchen of Reindeer House with my herding friends and had tea and cake with them whilst they decided on the names of the new calves the theme this year being Teas and Coffees.

The calves had grown so much since I had last seen them in May. They had just come into the hill enclosure from the free range with their mums. They were much bigger and braver. Helsinki’s premature calf was doing so well. His name is Irish after Irish coffee.

Latte (Brie’s calf) and Emm!

So much had changed in the new Reindeer Centre building. Tilly with her grandchildren gave me a tour of the new Centre. The stairs had been put in and the walls plastered. Sinks, pipes and the boiler had been put in. It looked so amazing. It is slowly getting there and is so exciting. It will be brilliant. We went outside to see where the reindeer Paddocks will be.

One morning, Poirot and Mivvi were outside the hill enclosure entrance gate. They had got out of the enclosure somehow. They were put back in and Isla walked around the fence line of the whole hill enclosure to see where they had got out. The fence line is 8km and the hill enclosure is 1,200 acres. She found out that someone had left the gate open down in the woods near Utsi’s hut so she shut it. 

Emm and Mivvi.

I had a big surprise one morning on the Hill Trip, as I got out the reindeer van in the carpark and a lady came over to me and I realised it was a lovely lady from our local art shop where I am from. She was with her husband and they were on their honeymoon. They were so surprised to see me as they didn’t know I was up and thought I would be up later in the year. They were visiting because of me as I often go into their art shop back and show her and her colleagues my reindeer photos and tell them all about the reindeer and they got very interested. It was such a lovely surprise to see her and her husband and it was so brilliant taking them up to see the reindeer. That was such a special day.

I had time to chill and enjoy the reindeer which I really find special. One day after a morning Hill Trip, the reindeer were lying down in groups. They were chilling, dozing or asleep. One of the calves, Irish, was twitching in his sleep and his eyes were rolling. Hemp was asleep and snoring. I went around taking photos and selfies and Caterpillar was following me as I had the hand feed bag. She tended to follow me during Hill Trips because of the hand feed bag and because she is a shy reindeer we had been giving her hand feed out of the bag after the Hill Trips to get used to being handled. One day after another Hill Trip, Silk and Suebi from the free range turned up outside the hill enclosure fence. They followed Ruth and Lotti, who had a food bag, into the hill enclosure. They had been trying to get Silk into the hill enclosure for a wee while with little success as she is a very shy reindeer so everyone was really pleased she came into the hill enclosure.

Emm and a bunch of snoozy reindeer, including Morse with those whopping antlers behind.
Christie and Espresso having a nap.

I got to help again treat some poorly reindeer when Pumpkin’s calf, called Lapsang, had been lying flat out on the hill trip. We took her temperature and it was very high. I held onto Pumpkin, who was on a head collar, whilst Ruth and Isla were dealing with Lapsang as Pumpkin was a protective mum. Most reindeer are not protective but Pumpkin was but Ruth was able to give Lapsang an injection to bring down the temperature and Isla led them both to the shed in the hill enclosure where to keep an eye on them.

At the end of my stay my herder friends surprised me by bringing Scully my adopted reindeer down from the hill. I was so pleased to see her. They had gone out to get Florence and her calf Cuppa off the free range there and bring them back to the hill enclosure to start getting Cuppa used to people and being handled. They also brought four more reindeer back including Scully which was so special. This was at the end of the day on my last working day so the next morning I went up on the morning Hill Trip to see Scully which was so brilliant. I got to hand feed her and Ruth took lovely photos of me with her.  

Scully and Emm on the last day of Emm’s stay.

So, I have shared with you some of the memorable highlights of 2024 being with the reindeer and my herder friends. It was such a special time as always. I am really looking forward to being with the reindeer in 2025 with my first visit in February. I am so excited and am counting down the days till my next visit.

Emm and Dr Seuss.

Emm

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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.

Hare’s-tail cotton-grass
Fab as a calf

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

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Latte – from calf to yearling!

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!

Ruth

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A busy day on the hill

Yesterday was one of the best sorts of reindeer herding days, almost entirely spent on the hill. Me and Fiona were due to help Tilly in the middle of the day, so we set off early to find the reindeer here on Cairngorm in the morning. The reindeer certainly made us work hard that morning as they were very high on the hill at roughly 950metres elevation, meaning we set straight off into a 400m climb! It was a windy day, and we had to pause a few times on route to brace ourselves as the gusts buffeted us. We could see the reindeer for much of the walk, and once we reached the same height as them, they were just the other side of a snow-covered burn. To save having to find a human suitable crossing, we called the reindeer to us, and they expertly navigated crossing the snow.

Lapsang and Latte digging the front of their hooves into the snow.
Video of reindeer crossing the snow.
Morven and Borlotti looking majestic.

The final section of snow that they had to cross was quite steep and it was amazing to see them jab the front points of their hooves, very purposefully into the snow. They looked like four legged mountaineers and used their front points much in the same way humans use crampons. It always amazes me to see how comfortable the reindeer are in difficult conditions that require us humans to have huge amounts of equipment and training to cope with. Fiona led the reindeer down to our chosen visit spot for the day and I had the lovely job of walking behind the reindeer. This can sometimes be a challenging job requiring lots of encouragement to keep the dawdlers at the back of the group moving. Yesterday though, the reindeer were moving well so I simply had the pleasure of moving with the herd.

Walking behind the herd.
Holy Moley keeping an eye on me.
Chai keeping me company at the back of the group.

Once we had fed the herd, we headed down the hill and drove over to help Tilly. At the moment half of our herd are free ranging on the hills in the Glenlivet estate, above our second base. Tilly had already got a big group of the reindeer into the coral, and we had the task of checking their temperatures and sorting some of the reindeer into different groups. We like to do regular temperature checks as it can give us an indication that a reindeer is unwell, before they are showing any other symptoms. By doing regular temperature checks it also means they are very used to the process, don’t find it in anyway stressful. In fact, yesterday many of the reindeer stood for us to take their temperatures without anyone even holding them.

Tilly and Fiona with a group of reindeer in the corral.
A non-reindeer photo but I thought this display of lichen on one of the farm vehicles was particularly beautiful.

Once we came off the hill, we drove back to Reindeer House for our last reindeer related job of the day. Three of our cows and calves had been free-ranging in Tilly’s group for the first part of the winter, we had then brought them back to join the herd on Cairngorm and Fiona, Ruth and I walked them back to meet the herd. Thankfully the herd hadn’t moved too far, we led the girls and let their calves follow them. As we were leaving the carpark we met a group who had spent the day learning winter skills, they professed that seeing the reindeer was the highlight of their day! Well done girls!! We then walked off the hill for the final important task of the day, a cuppa tea!

Fiona and Ruth leading Feta and Christie back to the herd, I was leading Beanie, and you can see her calf, Coffee in the right of the photo.

Lotti

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Photo Blog: February 2025

February has been a great month as we moved into our NEW Reindeer Centre. We opened the doors to the public on the 8th of February for the very first time – hoorah!

The Hill Trips have been running as normal every day (apart from one where we had to cancel due to wild weather!) and we’ve been taking visitors to the free ranging herd here on Cairngorm. We’ve also had reindeer on display in the Paddocks for the February half-term holidays. The entire herd is now back out free ranging in the hills, split between two locations. I love this time of year – getting out to see the reindeer in their mountain home every day is an absolute privilege.

Here’s a selection of photos just taken on my phone over the last month.

7th of February: Feeding the herd with Sheena and Hen, look at that lovely blue sky. We took four reindeer down off the hill and into our Paddocks where they stayed for a few days for the start of the February half-term.
8th of February: A big occasion – Tilly cutting the red ribbon opening our brand-new Reindeer Centre.
8th of February: Helsinki and her son Irish relaxing.
11th of February: Gorgeous Fern! The oldest reindeer in the entire herd. She’ll turn 18 in the spring and definitely deserves spoiling. You can see the evidence on her nose!
11th of February: A lovely pic of Fern and Andi.
12th of February: Moving the herd in to position ready for a Hill Trip. Emmental and Borlotti at the front.
13th of February: Trilby looking beautiful on a sunny day!
14th of February: Holy Moley posing for a photo whilst the others eat on the line. On Hill Trips, she often justs waits for the handfeed and doesn’t bother with the food on the ground!
14th of February: Vanilla coming in to see if there’s any more food on offer.
17th of February: Helsinki and her son Irish… again. They’re a very sweet pair!
18th of February: Emmental leading the herd to the Hill Trip location.
19th of February: Macchiato and a beautiful sky behind!
20th of February: Alba, one of our hand-reared calves from 2023, out free ranging and doing incredibly well! We’re very proud of her!
20th of February: Moving ther herd on a very windy and wild day!
23rd of February: The Hill trip was cancelleld as the weather was WILD! So here’s a pic from the Paddocks. Dr Seuss looking very relaxed.
25th of February: The lovely Winnie, like Alba, she was hand-reared in 2023.
26th of February: Lolly.
26th of February: These two are aleays stuck together like glue, Florence and her wee boy Cuppa.
27th of February: Latte and her mum Brie.
28th of February: Emm at the back of the herd doing a super job getting them moving.

Ruth

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Photo Blog: December 2024

December has been another mixed month for me in terms of work with time at home on the hills, and out and about on tour! Here at home, I’ve been on the hill working with the herd, taking lots of people up to meet the reindeer on Hill Trips, and helping to keep the office afloat at this incredibly busy time of year. I’ve also been on road again with Christmas teams doing parades and events in Strathaven, Dunkeld, Fife, and very locally in Carrbridge amongst other places. Once again, the reindeer were super and made me incredibly proud.

The Paddocks has also been open – hoorah! We’re still not allowed in the building, and it’s all quite basic at the moment, but at least we have had beautiful reindeer on display, and we have even been visited by Santa. Here’s just a few photos from December for you all.

4th of December: Earl Grey is one of the biggest calves of 2024. What a chunky boy, and a complete poser!
4th of December: Cuppa and his funky “eyebrows” making him look super serious all the time.
5th of December: The mallards often steal the show on a Hill Trip!
6th of December: The team enjoying their lichen after a Christmas parade to the Benarty Centre, Fife.
7th of December: Cowboy ready to pull the sleigh in Dunkeld. This is his first season as a sleigh puller and he’s an old pro already!
8th of December: Chai was so relaxed behind the sleigh whilst waiting for Santa to arrive she laid down!
11th of December: A funny face from Mangetout!
12th of December: Dad Ärta and his son Earl Grey, with matching white noses!
13th of December: Scully is in great condition just now after having a year off motherhood, hopefully she may now be in calf. Fingers crossed for the spring.
14th of December: Latte at Landmark Forest Adventure Park in Carrbridge. Completely unfazed about the giant T-rex looming over the pen!
15th of December: Christie and Morven.
15th of December: Maisie is a local lass who’s been working with us on weekends and during her school holidays, here she is with two “hats”, Beanie and Trilby!
15th of December: Some of the lovely dogs posing by the fire in the shop, Fraoch, Elsie, Ginger, and Tiree!
18th of December: Scully, Christie, and Torch posing beautifully! There’s even a wee rainbow if you look super close.
20th of December: Irish being cute!
20th of December: Mocha and her mum Vienna. Vienna has recently lost an antler this week.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all our blog readers, we really do appreciate your support and hope to entertain you every Friday of 2025 too!

Ruth

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Photo Blog: November 2024

November has been a very mixed month for me in terms of work! Here at home I’ve been on the hill working with the herd, taking lots of people up to meet the reindeer on Hill Trips, and spending most afternoons sleigh training or working though the gazillions of adoptions that are coming in ahead of Christmas. I’ve also been on road with Christmas teams doing parades in Dumfries and as far south as Wilmslow. The reindeer were super and made me incredibly proud. Biggest shout out to Akubra who pulled the sleigh like an old pro in his first public events!

31st of October: I had to cheat a little as turns out I was rubbish at taking photos during the first week of November so here’s Feta and her calf Earl Grey from the last day of October!
31st of October: Another one from October for good measure – here’s Helsinki and her son Irish!
7th of November: Juniper! The only ‘polled’ reindeer in our herd (meaning she doesn’t grow antlers).
7th of November: Vanilla looking beautiful. One of three pure white reindeer in the herd.
8th of November: If there’s a white bag on the hill, Beanie is never too far away!
9th of November: Mel and I took this handsome bunch to a primary school for the day. They did a super job. In the team was Dr Seuss, Clouseau, Akubra, Magnum, Espresso and Irish.
12th of November: Lisette feeding a lovely bunch of free rangers.
16th of November: Dr Seuss back on tour! Here he is gently resting his chin on the sleigh before a parade. Clearly trying to impress the crowds as he is usually known for causing mild havoc by wrecking our decorations!
17th of November: The boys resting in Dunfermline with Magnum at the front. They were back on the hill in the evening.
19th of November: Akubra back on the hill after a weekend away! He was a total star and pulled the sleigh in two parades.
19th of November: Feeding the calves out of the bags. Earl Grey on the left and Pukka on the right both with a foot in the air!
20th of November: Adzuki looking very smart in the snow!
21st of November: Turtle enjoying the snow!
21st of November: Christie alongside a snow bunting! I love these incredibly hardy birds! A flock of around 40 came and joined us on the Hill Trip.
25th of November: The snow had mostly gone after Storm Bert but Scully and Feta found a patch.
25th of November: Pip proving that reindeer can’t bite! Look at the small row of bottom teeth and the hard palate at the top of her mouth.
27th of November: Latte coming in for a close up. What a funny face!

Ruth

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