a haven for cormorants. The broader landscape drained by the Ythan near the coast is a generally mild sloping farmland known as the Buchan plain, which is virtually devoid of trees. In the glacial era, the Ythan River at this point would have been a torrent of melt waters streaming down from the Scottish Highlands. Archaeology Prehistoric man had settlements in coastal estuaries along the northeast Scottish coast including the nearby River Don Estuary and the Ythan Estuary. Studies date the lithics recovered at least as early as 7000 BC, with most of the artefacts from the Ythan mouth area deriving from the Sands of Forvie. Most of the large collection of lithics was retrieved in the period 1994-2001 from a deflation surface within this active dune system. The excavations revealed the survival of superimposed land surfaces, whose layers revealed hearth structures and other characteristic mesolithic artefacts. Although no Viking artefacts have been recovered here, a few kilometres north along the coast is the only place name associated with Viking landings, Saint Olaf at Cruden Bay. Ecology There are several distinct habitats within the Ythan Estuary complex including marsh, littoral, estuarine, lacustrine and dunes. Thus there is an unusual diversity of flora and fauna present in this nature reserve. The estuary itself is tidal, located seven kilometres from the North Sea. In the estuary and its verges, the presence of tern colonies is notable, since there are several distinct species that utilize the north banks of the Ythan Estuary, and comprise a percentage of the breeding pairs of terns in the United Kingdom. In the summer terns can be observed feeding in their characteristic diving patterns approximately 600 to 900 metres inland from the estuary. At the river mouth species of birds include scaup, long-tailed duck, red-breasted merganser and velvet scoter. In lesser numbers guillemot and razorbills are occasionally seen at this outlet to the North Sea. Extensive mussel beds are found about three kilometres from the estuary mouth, and these provide food for common eider (with the occasional king eider, oystercatchers and turnstones). On the Forvie Moor element of the Ythan Estuary complex, both mute and whooper swans occur. Meikle Loch is an element of the Ythan Estuary complex and sustains some aquatic vegetation, and from November to March is home to many wading birds, ducks and geese. Conservation status Based upon Articles 4.1 and 4.2 of the European