This time of year always puts smiles on people’s faces, not only because the days are getting longer and hotter (in theory anyway!) but nature comes to life.

The trees are in leaf and the flowers are blossoming every day. The animals too are busy as they welcome their latest generation into the world. On Rothiemurchus we have welcomed the arrival of many highland calves and now it is the turn of the red deer. Red deer calves are born with spots resembling the famous deer in the film ‘Bambi’. They are born this way so that their mothers can distinguish them in the long vegetation that they initially stay within to protect them from any lurking predators. These photos are of some of the newly born calves from this year.

The hot weather that settled over the area a few weeks ago was not only to much for humans but also the deer. The picture also shows deer wallowing in the march pond in the deer farm to cool down.