Original Contents of Cache:-
Chain of Colored Paperclips
2x Balloons
Watergun
Yo-Yo
Whistle
Parachute Man
Highlighter Pen
T h e Y t h a n E s t u a r y
The Ythan estuary lies 20 Km north of Aberdeen. This tranquil
inlet, with its sandy shores, mudflats and mussel beds, is a Site
of Special Scientific Interest within the Forvie National Nature
Reserve, an area rich in aquatic and terrestrial life, diverse land
forms, and archaelogical sites dating back to the Neolithic. Nine
thousand years ago, the Ythan must have been a truly impressive
river, carrying the tumbling glacial melt-waters from the Scottish
Highlands, south towards the Rhine. Eventually, however, the
post-glacial rise in sea-levels truncated the river to form the
present estuary, which is now one of the smallest in Britain. The
estuary is about 8 Km in length, with an average width of 300m and
even at its widest it is only 600m accross. Partly as a consequence
of its small size, the Ythan is arguably the best documented and
most fully uderstood estuary in the British Isles. Within its
narrow confines it has been possible to carry out intensive studies
at all levels of biological organisation, from the single species
to the ecosystem, an undertaking that would be unthinkable for our
larger estuaries, such as the Thames or the Firth of Forth.