CHAPTER VII 

 RIVER YTHAN 



ANGLING SEASON : llth February to 31st October. 

 NETTING SEASON : 25th February to 9th September. 



District Fishery Board sits in Aberdeen. 



This river and the Ugie flow quietly through the gently 

 undulating country which lies between the districts of 

 Formartine and Buchan. 



The Ythan rises at the springs called the Wells of Ythan, 

 and takes a course east and then north-east to Auchterless, 

 where there is a low fall. The stream then turns abruptly 

 south-east, and, with the road to Turriff on the right hand, 

 and the railway on the left, flows in this direction to Fyvie. 

 It then meanders with many windings through the flat stretch 

 between Fyvie and Methlick, past the old House of Gight, 

 which belonged to Lord Byron's mother the thick-walled 

 castle is now a most picturesque ruin, the property of the Earl 

 of Aberdeen. From Gight to beyond Haddo House the stream 

 is richly wooded on either bank. I am afraid to say how many 

 thousand trees I have heard were planted on the Haddo Estate 

 by the distinguished statesman and forebear of the present 

 peer, who then held the property. The Ythan is most enticing 

 to the trout fisher in many of the reaches near Methlick. 



The general course of the river is thereafter south-east, with 

 one or two curves before reaching Ellon ; and soon afterwards, 

 at the Kirkton of Logie Buchan, it expands into the estuary, 

 which is 4 miles in length and rather more southerly in 

 direction. The actual mouth is somewhat constricted, the 

 outgoing water having to contend constantly with a sand-bar 

 fed from a perfect wilderness of sand the Sands of For vie. 

 The total course of the river from the Wells of Ythan to the 

 mouth is about 36| miles. 



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