A pearl of a river

The Summer continues to fail to impress; this was the view earlier today over the River Ythan a few miles upstream from Newburgh.

The Ythan is renowned for its salmon and sea-trout fishing and for several centuries it was also a rich source of freshwater pearl mussels Margaritifera margaritifera. These creatures, now in serious decline due to overfishing, but protected by law, produce truly beautiful pearls, which in the Ythan's case really were fit for a king. A pearl found at the mouth of one of its tributaries, the Kelly Burn, was of such high quality that it was presented to King James V of Scotland and now forms one of the brightest jewels in the Scottish Crown manufactured in 1540.