Tag: ryvita

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Volunteer Blog: Anna’s Photography

I volunteered with the Cairngorm Reindeer Centre in September from the 22nd to the 26th after being accepted which I was so happy about as I have been a fan of the Centre since moving from England up to the Highlands five years ago. I fell in love with Aviemore and the Cairngorms quite early on and experienced a Hill Trip after my husband surprised me with a reindeer adoption (Dr Seuss) for my birthday and since that I have been on three further Hill Trips in varying weather but particularly enjoyed it in snow.

I love reindeer, I find them fascinating, beautiful, calm, serene and endlessly photogenic plus I have acquired a passion for wildlife in the Highlands from seals, dolphins, whales, deer and to my favourite animal which is the reindeer. I am a very keen hiker and am getting to know more of the Cairngorm hills and mountains as time has gone by and my experience grows, so the combination of being amongst my favourite Highland scenery in addition to helping out with this physically demanding and rewarding role was an absolute must for me.

I am also a photographer who specialises in landscapes, locations, scenery and mountains but not much experience of wildlife so I really wanted to explore how to capture these majestic and friendly animals.

On my first day at the Centre I was struck by the amazing images that have been taken by herders already and that are produced into postcards, calendars and prints in the beautifully presented and stocked shop which only opened earlier this year. I noticed that landscape was the preferred format for a postcard and was inspired to try and produce my own stunning image when I first went out into the Paddocks and then onto one of my many Hill Trips that week. I was blessed with great weather luckily, some lovely blue skies combined with dramatic cloud over the Cairngorm range and plenty of sun too.

Anna’s inspiration to take the perfect photo.

My first attempt was to capture the reindeer in the Paddocks first thing in the morning when the cold breath was visible from their nostrils and the trees surrounding them made the early sunlight more interesting.

Adzuki in the woods.

My second attempt was when I was up at the top area of the hill enclosure with the other herders tending to a couple of poorly reindeer and while I had a few moments I managed to snap the other reindeer through the fence and a gate, plus an open door of the shed. There was I thinking I was clever and that I’d nailed it I went and showed Fiona back at the Centre, who has taken her own amazing photos over time that have made it on postcards. She told me very nicely that anything interrupting the view of the reindeer does not appeal to the public as they prefer to see the animals in their natural, free habitat without fences etc, great advice which I straight away took on board, even if a little crest fallen…

Tetley and Ryvita shot through the gate into the hill enclosure.
Another angle of Ryvita and Tetley.
Alba waiting at the entrance to the shed.

On my other Hill Trips once we had done our jobs feeding the reindeer and engaging with the public, answering their questions or taking photos of them with the reindeer near them, I was able to walk around a bit and try to get my own images from that day, depending on which reindeer was still enough or what would strike me as an interesting shot.

Busby walking up the boardwalk.
Jester with Haka between his antlers.

I did manage to get a couple of photos through the antlers with a reindeer herder in the background which was a treat and I was very lucky one lovely day when I spotted the most amazing reindeer under the big photogenic tree with Meall a’ Bhuachaille (the hill) behind it and I took a few different pics while it was reaching up to the branches of the tree as if it was a giraffe on the African plains feeding from the high up leaves and then the same reindeer around the base of the tree with beautiful sunlight on it.

Herder Kate and reindeer Peanut taken through Caterpillar’s antlers.
Popsicle under a pine tree with Meall a’ Bhuachaille in the background.
Popsicle under the tree.
Popsicle again with beautiful sunlight.

On my very last day I was blessed at the end of the second Hill Trip with a quick dash up to the ridge with Maisie to call and feed the roaming reindeer. on the top of that ridge (which I have hiked many times before) you get the most incredible view of the Cairngorm plateau so I was very happy to be in one of my favourite places. Maisie did a brilliant job of calling the small herd who swiftly ran down into the valley below and headed up into the wild heather just below us to have some food. I was amazed by the stunning scenery around me and the very beautiful reindeer with pristine antlers that came and stood right in front of me, so I promptly fell back into the soft heather behind me and started to photograph this unique scene.

Falling back into the heather to take in the moment.
A lovely close up of Alba.
Beautiful Alba again.

I believe I was very fortunate that afternoon to have the blue sky, mountains with the dramatic cloud and the joy of the prettiest reindeer around. Maisie did also take a photo of me with Cairngorms behind me which I very much appreciated.

Soaking in the views and the reindeer – Latte and Cheer (white face) closest to the camera.
Anna and the reindeer, Zambezi is at the front stripping the velvet from her antlers.

Of course I did not want to leave at the end of the week as I was so loving being in this familiar environment with the animals that I had admired for ages and the herders that I had wanted to be like and learn from too, who all turned out to be amazing, helpful and friendly. What I learnt in those five days will stay with me for ever and the gratitude I have for the most amazing experience is as real as the reindeer and I remain hopeful that maybe one day a photo of mine will make it into the shop…

Anna

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Photo Blog: September 2025

September is a beautiful time of year. We’ve had the first snow on the plateau and lovely autumnal sunny days. The odd soggy day too, of course! The reindeer look fantastic with fully grown antlers and fresh winter coats growing through.

We’ve been doing lots of free range missions to bring in the cows and their calves which is always fun. The bulls and cows have been stripping the velvet and getting a wee bit more feisty and hormonal in preparation for the upcoming rut. We split the first bull, Choc-ice, with a small group of girls on the 22nd – exciting times!

The calves have also been given a name but as always we don’t post any names online until our adopters have their newsletters. Maybe by next month’s photo blog!

1st of September: Cheer and her daughter Chai in the background.
1st of September: The time of year when the bulls start stripping the velvet. Here is two-year-old Limpopo looking very handsome.
3rd of September: Emmental and her calf back in the enclosure after a summer of free ranging.
3rd of September: A family portrait! Irish, his wee sister, and his mum, Helsinki. Since Helsinki has been back in our enclosure, one-year-old Irish has become rather attached to his mum again! Helsinki is very tolerant and shares her pile of food with her teenage son.
4th of September: Bordeaux and her son. These two didn’t come in for their breakfast so I got a lovely walk up Silver Mount to find them and return them to the herd. Both were completely fine and clearly just having a lie-in.
4th of September: Elbe, a twin, is looking phenomenal! He’s two years old and has a really lovely nature! We’re all very fond of him.
4th of September: Peanut’s male calf is looking great and is already quite tame.
4th of September: Two freckly white noses trying to get into the hand feed bag. Sundae on the left and Beanie on the right.
9th of September: The calves in the enclosure have quickly learnt what’s in the bags! They get allowed to feed directly from the bags which encourages them to be tamer and so they can get some extra mouthfuls without a bigger reindeer stealing it from them. Zoom and Choc-ice are circling the bags like piranhas!
10th of September: One of our gorgeous calves. This wee one belongs to Hopscotch.
10th of September: Glacée and her daughter. She’s done so well as a first time mum!
11th of September: Lotti and Kate feeding the herd.
11th of September: Moving some of our free rangers from outside the cafe on Cairngorm Mountain! Sunflower, Fika and Solero are the three closest to camera. Fika and Solero are stripping the velvet from their antlers.
15th of September: Old girl Ryvita on a very soggy day. She’s now back out free ranging but came into the enclosure for a few days for a health check and vaccination. She’s looking great for 16!
16th of September: Brie posing beautifully on a lovely autumnal morning.
16th of September: The calves are allowed to feed from the bags before we put it out on the ground for everyone else. You can see the older reindeer lurking around the edge and Cameron and Kate on guard duty!
17th of September: Amazon is now two years old. Her mum Dante is just behind.
17th of September: Christie has done it again! She looks phenomenal and has produced yet another lovely, chilled-out wee dude!
18th of September: Jimmy looking very handsome.
22nd of September: Winnie looking gorgeous in the beautiful autumnal light! She was hand reared in 2023 and has come back into the hill enclosure after almost a year out free ranging looking amazing!
23rd of September: Morven and her calf. Both have ridiculous antlers!
24th of September: Marple and calf. Her calf has turned into a greedy food monster!
26th of September: After a week in our Paddocks Dr Seuss is now back in the hill enclosure ready for the 11am Hill Trip and hand feeding!

Ruth

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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).
Arctic Tern.
Humpback.

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!

Dante munching on a mushroom.

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

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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

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Photo Blog: March 2025

March has been a great month for us here at the Centre. We’ve become so used to working in the new Centre it’s hard to imagine life working from Reindeer House! March is always a relatively quiet month for visitors so it’s meant an excellent ratio of reindeer to people on our daily Hill Trips. Things will start getting busier in April with the school holidays, and reindeer will be back in our Paddocks from Saturday 29th of March. The Paddocks will be a work in progress for some time as we continue to landscape, but at least the reindeer will be back on display for folks to see! Have a read here for up to date info about what’s on offer in the Paddocks: https://www.cairngormreindeer.co.uk/paddocks/.

Here’s lots of lovely photos of some of our gorgeous reindeer taken throughout the month!

3rd of March: Chai is such a cutie, and she knows it!
3rd of March: Two girls with big antlers! Mangetout (born 2020) has the biggest set of antlers compared to the females in her year group and Pukka (born 2024) has the biggest out of hers, including the boys!
4th of March: Fiona, Lotti and I walked three cows and their calves up the hill to join the free ranging herd we have here on Cairngorm. Previously they’d been free ranging at our second winter site. Feta and Earl Grey, Beanie and Coffee, and Christie and Espresso.
5th of March: We’re so proud of these two! Alba at the front and Winnie behind. Both hand-reared in 2023 and now proper free-roaming reindeer! Go girls.
12th of February: Snow! And Cuppa’s awesome eyebrows.
12th of March: The top of Ryvita’s head. She’s usually the first cow to start growing her antlers.
13th of March: Winter has returned. Sundae looking particularly beautiful!
13th of March: Zambezi and the herd on their way in for breakfast.
13th of March: Winnie and Cameron.
14th of March: Torch making sure Cappuccino is looking good for our visitors.
17th of March: Shannon on St. Patrick’s Day. Shannon was named by herder Amy after the river in Ireland.
17th of March: Ryvita up to her usual tricks! She’s an old girl so I may have allowed this for longer than I would have if it was somebody younger!
18th of March: Trilby leading the herd on a beautiful day.
19th of March: Another old girl enjoying our backpacks – this is Oatcake.
21st of March: Amy and I went over to our second site to help Tilly which was very fun! We got to see all the male reindeer including this greedy chap – Aztec!
21st of March: Spartan looking very handsome and enjoying free ranging. He’s just beginning to grow a new set of antlers.
22nd of March: Peanut is a beautiful reindeer. She’ll turn 5 in the spring and is relatively shy in nature but very sweet!
22nd of March: Zambezi wondering if I’ve got any food!
23rd of March: Sunflower and Fika being very sweet!
25th of March: Christie cast her anlters a couple of weeks ago but still looks gorgeous. Her new antlers will begin to grow before too long.
27th of March: 10 month old Coffee leading the herd this morning. He’s a very confident chap!

Ruth

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The Old Girls

All of the reindeer in our herd are great, of course. But the reindeer we usually shout about are the big breeding bulls, the sweet little calves, a trusty Christmas reindeer or a female who stands out from the rest. In today’s blog I’m going to chat about some of our old girls. They have bred some wonderful calves over the years and guided the herd around the vast Cairngorm Mountains teaching the younger females along the way. Now they are too old to breed so now they live their life on the free range for about 90% of the year as there is no reason for them to be in our mountain enclosure which we use for management purposes such as calving or the rutting season. The 10% they do come into our enclosure is for routine vaccines and check-ups.

These old girls are: Fern (aged 17), Sika (16), Sambar (16), Gazelle (16), Ibex (16), Pavlova (15), Oatcake (15), Ryvita (15) and Hobnob (15). Although they don’t look quite as spritely as they did a few years ago, equally, they don’t look like they’re going anywhere in the near future.

Fern – September 2024. Look at all that yummy lichen beneath her feet. She knows all the best grazing spots in the hills. Officially the oldest reindeer in the herd.
Sika was in our enclosure for a short while in the autumn. Here she is licking her lips at the sight of a white bag! She’s very shy, but in more recent years has discovered what a white bag contains, although she remains one of the few reindeer who are uncatchable whilst out in the hills!
Sika leading the free range herd in April 2024 – what a life!
Catching up with Sambar whilst she free ranges in August 2024. She’s a sweet-natured lass and it’s always a joy to see her!
Cameron on a retrieval mission – bringing home 16 year olds Gazelle and Ibex. They’re looking good for old girls and have moulted most of their old winter coats and are in their short summer coats.
Gazelle in September 2024 – looking very smart and in good condition. She’s the mother of 3 of our wonderful ‘Christmas reindeer’ – Aztec, Athens, and Adzuki!
Ibex also looking fab in September 2024! She is a granny of Nile and Camomile thanks to daughter Flax.
Hobnob and daughter Mushy – January 2024. Hobnob is a mother and granny, so her good gentics are in the herd for hopefully many years to come.
Sika and Hobnob in December 2024, free ranging together.
Oatcake in January 2024. We’re hoping Oatcake may become a granny in the spring, thanks to her daughter Lolly! Fingers crossed.
Pavlova in January 2024, look at her epic antlers!
Pavlova in May 2012 being followed by her newborn calf who we later named Torch. Torch is a fantastic mum thanks to Torch’s son Morse, who we used as a breeding bull, Pavlova’s genetics will live on in our herd! Torch’s daughter Sunflower is now also a breeding female too.

The oldest reindeer we’ve ever had in the herd got to 19 years old and Fern is only 4 months from her 18th birthday so she’s doing amazingly. She’s such a sweet old lady and a firm favourite amongst us herders. Then there are 4 others hot on her heels at only 1 year younger. 2008 must have been a pretty special year with strong genetics to have this many getting to such a good age. Then we have 2009 when we named the reindeer after cakes biscuits and puddings and we still have four females from that year. Ryvita recently has been acting granny as a couple of months ago she landed herself with a small herd of young females who where on the free range with her but I’m sure she kept them all in check. She was certainly boss, and quite right too!

Ryvita being Ryvita in December 2024, breaking into our feed bag!
Old girl Ryvita with a herd of younsters including Solero, Shannon, and Mochi.

Considering reindeer live on average 12-14 years these cows are doing just great! I always think if a reindeer gets to over 10 years old they are doing well as they live such a harsh life especially in the middle of winter. Winters in Scotland aren’t quite as harsh as those across the world where other reindeer herds live so I suspect as a result we have a higher average age in our herd.

So cheers to the old girls in our herd. What a wonderful bunch of reindeer you are and thanks for being the role models to the youngsters following in your hoof prints.

A special mention goes to the lovely Okapi, who sadly passed away recently. She got to 16 years old and spent the vast majority of her life free roaming in the hills. She was always delighted to see a feed bag and was one of our reliable girls we could always catch out and help us move the free ranging reindeer around. She’ll be missed!

Fiona

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Photo Blog: August 2024

August has been a busy and fun month. The first half of the month was very busy with visitors and sold out Hill Trips. Without the Paddocks and Exhibition this year it feels like the Hill Trips have been even busier than usual. Sometimes we even put a bonus additional Hill Trip on so as not to disappoint too many folk! The reindeer were not complaining about another opportunity to hand-feed!

But as Scottish schools went back the second half of the month got slightly quieter with visitors and we’ve been having lots of free range action which I love. Generally we start to see the free ranging females more as they come down in altitude as the weather gets cooler. Towards the end of the month we also start bringing in the mums and their calves back into the enclosure. They spend June through to August/early September out roaming the hills learning how to be little wild reindeer and enjoying all the best grazing, but when the autumn rolls around it’s time for them to learn what a feed bag is and in time, how to walk on a halter etc. The following photos are a small snapshot of what’s been occurring this month…

1st of August: Sheena leading down Mivvi with Cairngorm mountain in the background.
2nd of August: Frost coming over to say hello!
5th of August: Kernel and Jelly, both 4 years old, leading the herd on a very dreich Hill Trip.
5th of August: Mivvi looking so smart in his short, dark summer coat.
6th of August: Harness training in the sun!
7th of August: Sherlock looking MEGA!
7th of August: The most identifiable nose on the hill?? Dr Seuss saying hello!
8th of August; Amy being mobbed by a bunch of boys (and girl Alba is bottom left) wanting their breakfast!
9th of August: A free ranging mission with Cameron. Moving a group of VERY old girls, Ibex, Sambar, Gazelle, Sika and Pavlova with a collective age of 79!
12th of August: Handsome Akubra.
13th of August: Haricot on a beautiful breezy morning.
14th of August: Wafer coming over to say hi! He looks great this year, with very pretty antlers.
14th of August: Winnie and Alba looking super! Both were hand-reared last year.
15th of August: A late afternoon excursion from the office to find and move some free ranging reindeer. This is the lovely Emmental who was certainly not shy!
16th of August: Cows and calves are back in the enclosure! This is Christie, her male calf, and Solero in the middle.
16th of August: Brie’s calf is exceptionally cute! But I could say that about all of them…
19th of August: Marple and her calf behind.
20th of August: Jenga spending a short while in the enclosure for a wee health check after a summer out free ranging.
20th of August: Sunflower and calf!
24th of August: Ryvita aged 15 and looking fantastic!!
24th of August (a): Vienna and calf being retrieved from the free range. I enjoyed a lovely evening walk with them back to the hill enclosure.
24th of August (b): Vienna and calf home! Back in the enclosure after a summer out in the hills.

Ruth

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Photo Blog: October 2023

Here’s a selection of pics taken throughout the month, hopefully giving a snap shot of what we’ve been getting up to. It’s been full on with the rut taking place in the enclosure, our breeding bulls do now seem a bit less enthusiastic after a busy six weeks for them! We’ve also been bringing two calves at a time down to the Paddocks to halter train them. They usually spend around four days here in which we take them out on morning walks to get them used to seeing traffic, bikes, their own reflections in shiny windows and whatever else Glenmore can throw at us at 8am! Christmas sleigh training for our three year old Christmas Reindeer begins too. So far Adzuki, Haricot and Hemp have been trained and they’ve all been total pros. During the October holidays when our 11am Hill Trip sells out we’ve been putting on an afternoon Hill Trip too. Funnily enough, during the rain and wind of Storm Babet we did not require this attentional visit. But after the storm we’ve been treated to some gorgeous autumnal weather and the first decent snow on the hills of the season.

Amongst all of this we’ve also managed to get the October newsletter written, printed and sent out to our lovely adopters! Until it’s safely in the hands of our adopters I’ve left all calf names out of the blog.

2nd of October – Sherlock watching over Bordeaux whilst she eats her breakfast.
4th of October – Haricot puling the sleigh like a pro -his second time ever!
5th of October- Olympic looking very handsome pulling the sleigh with very special cargo on board – Tilly and her grand children!
7th of October – Fly looking very soggy on an incredibly wet day! She’s 16 and is now of of the oldest reindeer in our herd.
7th of October – Emm, our wonderful volunteer, is here brightening up even the wettest of days, alongside Holy Moley and calf.
10th of October – Druid, excellent at striking a pose!
12th of October – Cicero and Lupin vying for their moment in the blog.
13th of October – A morning at the farm to help Tilly feed the bulls. Here’s Busby, cheeky as ever!
18th of October – Checking in with some of the cows in Sherlock’s breeding group. Here we have Pumpkin, Torch and Pip.
19th of October – An incredibly wet Hill Trip. Gloriana and Borlotti closest to the camera with the herd behind, waiting for their lunch.
23rd of October – Blue skies!! Jenga, Sunflower and Feta posing beautifully.
24th of October – Borlotti and her cute calf with a big pile of breakfast.
26th of October – Ryvita, Sambar and Sika leading a lovely free range group of girls.

Ruth

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2020 calves – then and now (Part 2 – the males).

This week’s blog looks back on a select few of my favourite male calves of 2020 and how they have changed in the last three years. To read stories about my favourite female calves then check out this blog, published a few weeks ago: 2020 calves – then and now (Part 1 – the females). – The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd

Adzuki

I remember when we found Gazelle and Adzuki just after he was born how relaxed they both were. At the time Gazelle was twelve years old and had had many calves before so she was completely comfortable for us to hang out with her and her new-born calf. (Provided that we had brought her some food, which of course we had)!

New-born Adzuki.
Fiona, Gazelle and Adzuki.

Adzuki is now one of the biggest of his age group. Adzuki was always fairly shy so we have spent quite a lot of time, and bribery, getting him used to us. It helps that he is from a greedy family! Adzuki grew a wonderful set of antlers as a two year old and after a winter free ranging he’s currently back in our enclosure and has grown a whole new set once again – even bigger!

Adzuki growing a beautiful set of antlers as a 2-year-old bull – summer 2022.
Adzuki – summer 2023.

Haricot

Haricot was Ryvita’s last calf, and when he was born he was really wee. In fact as we waved the cows and calves off onto the free-range for the summer, I wasn’t totally convinced that we’d see him again. But we did, in fact by the end of the summer he looked totally great and was just as fat as any of the other calves. Ryvita however was looking a wee bit underweight, potentially due to having done such a fantastic job of raising Haricot, so we gave her some extra food all autumn. And of course, if Ryvita got extra food, so did Haricot! As a result, by Christmas, he was like a little barrel!!

A near miss for Haricot (if you don’t see it at first then look closer)!
Haricot as a new born.
Haricot in the snow as a calf with Lupin and Holy Moley coming up behind.

Haricot’s extra food that first autumn certainly stood him in good stead and he’s now a very handsome young reindeer. Here he is below with half brother Adzuki, you can certainly see the family resemblance!

Haricot and Adzuki. – summer 2022.
Winter Haricot.
Haricot – summer 2023.

Butter

Now Butter came as a bit of surprise. His mum, Gloriana, had never calved (despite running with a bull each year) until the age of 8 when Butter was born! We found Butter on a super soggy day and he had big floppy ears. Butter spent all summer free-ranging and we didn’t see him much and then one day at the end of the summer Gloriana came running into the enclosure with no calf. She was grunting away and still had an udder full of milk suggesting that she’d only recently lost Butter, so we sent her back out to search for him. We didn’t see either of them for quite a while and then one morning, Gloriana showed up with Butter in tow. He was looking fairly skinny so we decided to name him Butter, after a butter bean, in the hope that he would grow to be ‘fat as butter’!!  

New born Butter on a very soggy day!

Sure enough, fast forward almost three years and Butter is doing very well. He also got lots of preferential feeding that first autumn and as a result has done just as well as the rest of his age group! He is incredibly tame and can be pretty cheeky sometimes but it’s hard not to be fond of that white nose!

Butter looking smart in his summer coat.
Butter showing us he hasn’t changed all that much – summer 2022.
Butter free-ranging this past winter.
Butter – summer 2023.

Lupin

Lupin was Marple’s first calf and when he was born he was really small; we wondered if maybe he was a little bit premature. But Marple did a great job, she took motherhood all into her stride and after the first few wobbly days he was charging around the enclosure after her! When they were free-ranging that summer and we headed up to find them Lupin would always come marching over to see us! He was one of the tamest and boldest free-ranging calves that I have seen!

Tiny wee Lupin.

Lupin is now a very handsome young reindeer. He’s not as tall as some of the others but he’s in great condition and grew a fantastic set of antlers both last year and this year. He’s not lost his confidence either, he’s very bold with both humans and reindeer, in fact I think last autumn he got fairly full of himself and was strutting around as if he was one of the big breeding bulls! Lupin had a wee sister born last year who we named Viennetta, and another (as yet unnamed) sister this year. Viennetta could not be more different from him as a calf. She’s very pale with a white nose and was one of the largest calves of last year!

Lupin in the hill enclosure last summer – 2022.
Lupin – summer 2023.

Cicero

I had the great delight of finding Cicero’s mum, Brie, when she was mid-way through calving. I found a spot far enough away to not bother her and watched the whole process through binoculars. When I found her the calf’s front legs were already out and it didn’t take long for her to calve completely. It was totally amazing then to watch the first 20 minutes or so of Cicero’s life. First he was licked dry, then he had his first milk and then fairly soon afterward he took his first steps! 

Cicero taking his first steps.

As Cicero has grown up he has certainly taken more after his dad (Houdini) then his mum (Brie). Brie is the smallest of all our fully grown reindeer and Cicero is the tallest of all the reindeer his age, I think he over took her in height by about a year old.

Cicero on a dreich day – summer 2022.
Cicero – summer 2023.

Jelly

When Jelly was a couple of days old we noticed that he wasn’t suckling properly, after closer examination of Jenga, his mum, we realised that she had passed all of her afterbirth. Both the passing of her placenta and the production of milk are associated with the hormone oxytocin which is released as the reindeer is calving. After chatting to our vet we ended up giving Jenga a dose of oxytocin and kept a close eye on them for a couple of days to make sure he was suckling properly. After a couple of days they were happy and he was getting plenty of milk from mum, by the end of the summer he was in great form, one of the biggest calves.

Jenga and Jelly suckling.
New born Jelly finding his feet.

Not much as changed since then, Jelly is still one of the biggest of the 2020 bulls, definitely with the biggest neck of all of them – what a chunk! Jelly can be a little dopey at times and this reminds me of that tiny wee calf wobbling about to get milk.

Jelly being a dude – summer 2022.
Jelly – summer 2023.

Hemp

When Hemp was wee he was a beautiful slate grey colour with a white nose, much like his dad, Spartan. Whilst Spartan’s characteristics were showing up in many of the calves that year, note the white noses of Adzuki, Haricot, Borlotti and Chickpea, the family resemblance is strongest in Hemp.

Hemp leading the way.

Hemp has grown up into a lovely friendly young reindeer which is no surprise as he comes from a very tame family, on both his mum and his dad’s side. He’s incredibly greedy (which comes from his mother) and can be a little stubborn at times (which comes from his father).

Hemp in the summer – 2022.
Hemp – June 2023.

Lotti

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Golden Oldies

A common question that we get asked on our Hill Trips is ‘how long do reindeer live for?’. The answer is usually anything between 11 – 15 years old with the females typically living a little longer than the males. The oldest reindeer we’ve ever had in our herd was a female called Lilac living to a grand old age of 19, while our oldest male Elvis is still currently living at 17 years old. The older generation in our herd have a pretty good life, the females spend almost the whole year free ranging on open mountain where they know all the best spots for grazing and where they can find the most peace. The older males do free-range on the hills for 3 – 4 months a year and then spend their days at our hill farm near Glenlivet, even with access to the hill they typically spend there time eating and sleeping but that’s totally fine by us. For me, some of the biggest characters in the herd are the older reindeer and even though I’ve only known them since 2017, I thought it would be nice to tell you a bit about some of my favourite females who are on the mature side of life.

Some of our golden oldies enjoying the free range – Diamond (aged 10), Sambar (15), Gazelle (15), Lulu (17), Silk (13) and Addax (15).

Fly – At 16 years old, Fly is the joint 4th oldest reindeer in our herd along with Fern. For years now she has come across as the natural leader and matriarch of the herd and will regularly be found leading the reindeer to a call or to the areas of best grazing. She’s always grown a cracking set of antlers too which have sometimes been the largest female set of the year and usually starts to grow her new set of antlers before any other female. Other herders have told me that Fly was quite an aloof reindeer when she was younger and even to this day she isn’t exactly tame, but she has maybe learned to trust us a bit more in recent years and will happily take handfeed from us now. Being such a big reindeer she’s unmistakable once you get to know them all as individuals and it’s always nice to see her doing so well at her age. These days she keeps herself on the outside of the bigger groups of reindeer not getting involved in the hustling and pushing of other aspiring females, but I feel like her presence is never missed. For her age Fly is in amazing condition and I hope that she can remain a key member of the herd for some time still.

Fly looking fierce! September 2022,
Fly leading the herd – April 2023.

Fern – Fern was one of the first reindeer I ever got to know, and she’s got such a sweet and friendly character. Also 16 years old, she is once again looking amazing for her age and growing another great set of antlers. I sometimes think that reindeer can give a sense of calmness to people in the way they are so relaxed and docile, and no reindeer acts more like this than Fern. I do feel like I abuse her easy-going nature sometimes, whenever I’m in need of catching out a reindeer to help lead the herd or pair a reindeer up with one that needs to come off the hill, I can always rely on Fern to easily put a halter on and help out in such situations, she never seems to mind ands always does a wonderful job. A couple of years ago Fern also did something I’ve never seen another reindeer do and that was to take on another calf while also raising her own, Kiruna had lost his mother on the free-range, he was adopted by Fern along with her calf Dublin and for some time we didn’t even know which young reindeer was her calf because she treated them both equally. All in all, she’s just a wonderful reindeer.

Fern in February 2023.
Both Fly and Fern together – April 2023. The food crumbs on Fly’s nose are a bit of a giveaway!
Fern growing lovely antlers – May 2023.

Okapi – Okapi turned 15 in May but in my mind I’ve always thought of her as one of the oldies, I sound so mean to write this but she’s always had older looking face compared to any other reindeer her age. She couldn’t be a more friendly reindeer and has very gentle personality. Very unfortunately when Okapi was 5 years old she prolapsed on several occasions and as a result was no longer able to calve. This meant that since then, she has spent a long life of predominantly free-ranging on the open mountains. It’s always great to come across her on the free-range as she usually heads straight toward us once she realises we have food. She’s quite a greedy reindeer but she doesn’t push it like some of the others in our herd. I like to give her little extra handfuls of food most times I see her because she’s always just so nice and I know she’s a reindeer most herders admire too. It’s also worth mentioning that Okapi’s older brother is Elvis, there must be something in the genes for Okapi and Elvis to be living for as long as they have.

Beautiful Okapi!
A more typical picture of Okapi – February 2023.

Ryvita – Everyone loves Ryvita! At 14 years old, she’s been a favourite among reindeer herders for many a year now and is the perfect balance of being friendly, cheeky and confident. She will always come over to say hello, or more likely see if there is any food, and will happily follow you around for as long as it takes until you give in and offer her a little hand feed. Over the years, Ryvita has been one of the most photographed reindeer in our herd. Like Fly she grows her antlers early and always knows how to strike a pose for the camera. She’s also quite distinctive for her having a very wide belly and I’ve regularly been asked if she’s pregnant, my usual reply is ‘no, that’s just Ryvita’. Ryvita is part of a large family group and all the reindeer from that line and very friendly and sweet.

Ryvita – August 2021.
Ryvita – May 2023. Growing lovely antlers already.

Joe

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