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

2020 calves – then and now (Part 1 – the females).

I was recently looking back over photos from the calving season in 2020. This was the first calving season I had worked and it was in the middle of lockdown with fewer staff working so I was very lucky to be totally immersed in what was a very busy month! The calves born in 2020 are now three years old and some of them have had their own calves for the first time this year. I thought it would be nice to look back on a few favourites and how they have changed over the last few years.

Note: This started out being a fairly short blog just going through a couple of my favourite calves but very soon became longer and longer… Turns out I have a real soft-spot for the 2020 calves with lots and lots of favourites amongst them! I decided to split the males and females and make it into two blogs otherwise there was no way anyone would read all the way to the bottom. Part 2 is now online too.

2020 calves heading out to free-range.

Holy Moley

First and foremost, Holy Moley was the first calf born in 2020, the first new-born calf I had ever seen, and still to this day, I maintain she was the most beautiful calf ever to be born. Not that I’m biased.

New-born Holy Moley.

Anyone who watched ‘A Baby Reindeer’s First Christmas’ (Channel 4, first broadcast on Christmas Eve 2020) will be well aware that Holy Moley didn’t have the easiest start but she’s done really well over the last couple of years and has grown up into a strong, feisty and very cheeky young reindeer! Her name is often accompanied by the word ‘diva’ which I think explains a lot. 

Lotti and Holy Moley.

Sunflower

The most distinguishing feature I remember about Sunflower when she was a calf was the perfect arrow pointing along her back towards her head. We joked that the arrow was to show to ‘insert food here’.

Insert food here.

Sunflower’s arrow sadly didn’t stay longer than her calf coat but luckily we’re pretty well practiced at which end reindeer food goes! Sunflower has grown up to be such a lovely lass. She’s tame but not pushy. She’s also one of the tallest of the female reindeer her age, go Sunflower!!

Sunflower in the snow.
Sunflower out free ranging.

Pumpkin

When Pumpkin was a day or so old it was time to bring her from where she was born to a bit closer by and into our creche area to keep an eye on her. Me and Olly went to fetch Pagan and Pumpkin but about half-way through the walk Pumpkin was getting tired, as it was a long walk for brand new legs, so instead I had to carry her in, what a hardship!!!

Lotti and Pumpkin.

Pumpkin is very greedy much like the rest of her family. She’s usually one of the first in line for handfeeding, so if any of you reading this have been on a hill trip in the winter, you’ve probably met her.

Flax

Ibex, Flax’s mum, was another experienced mum who was totally chilled out around us as we treated and checked her calf. She was also the first reindeer who I’d watched eat her afterbirth which was amazing to see! Flax was born on a beautiful sunny day so we enjoyed ten minutes or so hanging out with the two of them before leaving Ibex to finish her lichen in peace.

Fiona, Flax and Ibex.
Ibex cleaning Flax.

Flax is Ibex’s last calf, so she’s not been pushed away after the birth of a younger sibling. As a result, Flax and Ibex are as thick as thieves and usually still at each other’s sides. Flax can be bossy and greedy just like her mum!

Flax with a snowy nose.

Pip

Pip was Kipling’s first ever calf and motherhood definitely took a little getting used to for Kipling. For the first couple of days when we went to feed them Kipling would come charging over for the feed and we would spend the next five minutes searching for her calf who would be left behind somewhere totally unaware that her mother seemed to have chosen feed over her. After the first week or so, Pip was mobile enough to stick with Kipling easily though. Kipling is Joe’s favourite reindeer and he caught and treated Pip when she was first born so when it came to naming Joe asked if he could name her Pip in memory of his dog who had had the same name.

New-born Pip.
Joe, Kipling and Pip.
Joe and Pip.

Pip has grown up into a very independent young female, she’s rarely with the rest of her family and is quite different from them in personality. Her mum Kipling is probably one of the tamest reindeer in our herd whereas Pip has a wee bit of a wild streak. Ruth thinks that if Pip was a human she’d be a real party girl and I think she’s right!

Party girl Pip spending the February half-term in the Paddocks.

Chickpea

At the end of calving in 2020, Angua was the only cows left to calve. When we went to feed the herd one morning she wasn’t with the herd, so we set off around the enclosure to try to find her and her new-born calf, unfortunately no luck! She was nowhere to be seen! We continued to search for the next few days without any success and were all getting more and more worried, particularly as it was Angua’s first time calving. A couple of days later, after lots of searching, we were bringing the herd in for their breakfast and suddenly realised there was one extra calf than the day before!

Andi and Chickpea having a cuddle.

Chickpea is fairly shy in nature, so we’ve spent lots of time over the last three years bribing her with food. This has definitely worked; you can now see her licking her lips whenever one of the herders approaches with a bag of extra tasty food.

Ruth, Chickpea and Lotti.
Chickpea licking her lips at the white bag – March 2023.

Peanut

Now Peanut came as a bit of a surprise. We hadn’t actually thought that her mum, Roule, was pregnant. Then as we were splitting the pregnant females to stay in the enclosure and the non-pregnant ones to go back out we took a second look at her and decided that her belly looked rather wide, sure enough a few weeks later, Peanut was born.

Peanut.

Peanut has become tamer and tamer over the last three years and in 2022 she also surprised us by having her first calf who we have named Nuii. Nuii is definitely one of my favourite of our ice-creams – she’s a real sweetie!

Peanut in the snow.

Lotti

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