In today’s modern, high tech, fast moving society, having the opportunity to ‘get away from it all’ is essential for everyone. The natural side of Ellon offers this in abundance.

Take a gentle stroll in the award winning Riverside Park where the delightful Ythan flows gently through the heart of the Town. The water bubbles softly as it eases its way around the small islands in the river that provide the town with its name, Eilean being the Gaelic word for island.

Keen eyes will locate the motionless heron, stiff and grey among the bank-side vegetation until a sudden plunge with its stiletto beak catches an unwary fish. While the heron uses its beak, human herons use rod and line in an attempt to catch the superb salmon or dashing sea trout that fight their way upstream to spawn.

While birds and man line the bank seeking a fish supper, below the surface further chases are taking place as the amazingly agile otter follows every twist and turn of a fish.

For those fortunate enough to catch a brief glimpse of an otter it is a wonderful experience, and this right in the heart of a busy, thriving town.

Flying low above the river the dipper will suddenly alight on a stone and just as suddenly disappear.

No conjurer could do it better, and achieve such an effect of disbelief. The dipper, about the size and colour of a blackbird, but one with a white tummy, actually walks beneath the river, turning over stones in search of caddis fly larvae.

There is so much natural life to fascinate everyone in and around the river, but that is only part of the real Ellon, the natural Ellon. Away from the Ythan there are the wonderful MacDonald Woods where one can relax in beautiful surroundings. As the wind rustles the leaves on high, buzzards ‘miaow’ even higher.

These stunning large birds are common in all of the areas of woodland around and through the town.. Their eagle eyes will glimpse a slight movement, perhaps a vole or even a beetle as they have a varied diet, and yummy they rarely miss out on a meal. The tok-tok-tok of spotted woodpeckers can be heard echoing though the trees, to be replaced by the spooky call of tawny owls once night falls.

Roe deer are regular visitors in Ellon’s woodland areas, but their habit of feeding at dawn and dusk means that they are rarely seen. Not so the delightful and increasingly rare red squirrel that is common through the town. Ellon and its natural features offers a stronghold for these beautiful animals that dance in the trees, their aerial acrobatics taking them from one slender twig to another in death-defying leaps.

Many of Ellon’s gardeners have red squirrel that visit their patch, feeding on nuts left out for birds.

Ellon has all this and more, just waiting to be found in delightful surroundings, making the town a unique paradise, where the natural world lives side by side with the man made.