The Ythan is a river in the north-east of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

rising at Wells of Ythan near the village of Ythanwells and flowing south-eastwards through the towns of

Fyvie Fyvie is a village in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Geography Fyvie lies alongside the River Ythan and is on the A947 road. Architecture What in 1990, at least, was a Clydesdale Bank was built in 1866 by James Matthews (arch ...

Methlick Methlick (Gaelic: ''Maothulach'') is a village in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated on the River Ythan north-west of Ellon. Services Methlick is served by a parish church, a general store, a garage, a Chinese takeawa ...

and

Ellon Ellon may refer to: *Ellon, Aberdeenshire Ellon () is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately north of Aberdeen, lying on the River Ythan, which has one of the few undeveloped river estuaries on the eastern coast of Scotland. It is i ...

before flowing into the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

near

Newburgh Newburgh (''"new"'' + the English/Scots word ''"burgh"'') may refer to: Places Scotland *Newburgh, Fife, a former royal burgh *Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, a village England *Newburgh, Lancashire, a village * Newburgh, North Yorkshire, a village ...

, in

Formartine Formartine ( meaning "Martin's land") is a committee area in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This district extends north from the River Don, Aberdeenshire, River Don to the River Ythan. It has a population of 36,478 (2001 Census). The committee area w ...

. The lower reach of the river is known as the

Ythan Estuary The Ythan Estuary is the tidal component of the Ythan River, emptying into the North Sea north of Aberdeen, Scotland. The estuary’s tidal action extends a inland and has characteristic widths of between and . Besides the tidal channel t ...

, is a part of the River Ythan,

Sands of Forvie The Forvie National Nature Reserve is a national nature reserve (Scotland), national nature reserve owned and managed by NatureScot. It is located north of Newburgh, Aberdeenshire, Newburgh in Aberdeenshire, in the northeast of Scotland. The re ...

and

Meikle Loch Meikle Loch is an inland loch some miles north of Collieston, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is designated as part of the Ythan Estuary complex, along with the Sands of Forvie, as a Special Protection Area for wildlife conservation Wildlife cons ...

Special Protection Area A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and cer ...

for conservation, particularly the breeding ground of three tern species (

common tern The common tern (''Sterna hirundo'') is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in Temperateness, temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is stron ...

little tern The little tern (''Sternula albifrons'') is a seabird of the family Laridae. It was first described by the German naturalist Peter Simon Pallas in 1764 and given the binomial name ''Sterna albifrons''. It was moved to the genus '' Sternula'' whe ...

and

Sandwich tern The Sandwich tern (''Thalasseus sandvicensis'') is a tern in the family Laridae. It is very closely related to the lesser crested tern (''T. bengalensis''), Chinese crested tern (''T. bernsteini''), Cabot's tern (''T. acuflavidus''), and el ...

) (Lumina, 2004). The River Ythan has a length of and a catchment area of . As figures of the discharge, are given or .Elaine McAlister, Nelleke Domburg, Tony Edwards, Bob Ferrier, ''Hydrological Modelling of the River Ythan using ArcInfo GRID''
/ref>

Nitrate Vulnerable Zone

The Scottish Government has designated the River Ythan catchment as a

Nitrate Vulnerable Zone A nitrate vulnerable zone is a conservation designation of the Environment Agency for areas of land that drain into nitrate Polluted soil, polluted waters, or waterways that could become polluted by nitrates due to environmental and health threat ...

following concerns about the spread of algal mats in the river during the 1990s. The resulting restrictions on the use of fertilisers in the catchment were criticised by many farmers, 90% of the land in the catchment area is used for agriculture. However, the designation and subsequent actions to solve the issue under the European Union's LIFE Fund's Ythan Project have led to improvements in water quality as an increasing number of farmers used techniques such as the creation of buffer strips between their fields and the river and nutrient budgeting. Both the increase in agri-environment schemes in the area and the individual river restoration work undertaken under the auspices of the Ythan Project have led to an increase in wildlife habitat in the Ythan's catchment.

Etymology

The name ''Ythan'' may be derived from a Brittonic source, cognate with

Old Welsh Old Welsh () is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic around 550, ha ...

''eith'' meaning "gorse" (

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

''eithin'') or else, from an early ''*Iectona'' meaning "talkative one" (Welsh ''iaith''; cf.

River Ithon The River Ithon ( Welsh: Afon Ieithon) is a major left-bank tributary of the River Wye in Powys, mid Wales. It rises in the broad saddle between the western end of Kerry Hill and the hill of Glog to its west and flows initially southwards to L ...

Fishing

The area of the Ythan is part of a protected region, in order to preserve

Atlantic salmon The Atlantic salmon (''Salmo salar'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the third largest of the Salmonidae, behind Hucho taimen, Siberian taimen and Pacific Chinook salmon, growing up to a meter in length. Atlan ...

and

sea trout Sea trout is the common name usually applied to anadromous (sea-run) forms of brown trout (''Salmo trutta''), and is often referred to as ''Salmo trutta'' morpha ''trutta''. Other names for anadromous brown trout are bull trout, sewin (Wales ...

References

* Lumina Technologies, ''Ythan Estuary, Aberdeenshire'', Aberdeen Library archives, June, 2004 {{authority control Special Protection Areas in Scotland Ythan Ramsar sites in Scotland

Nitrate Vulnerable Zone

Etymology

Fishing

See also

References