Newburgh & the Sands of Forvie: Aberdeenshire’s Seal Estuary & a Great Lost Dune Wilderness

Wide sands at the mouth of the River Ythan at Newburgh, Aberdeenshire. — The Ythan estuary at Newburgh — wide sands, big skies, and one of Scotland’s best seal colonies just across the water.

Overview — the honest take

Newburgh is a quiet Aberdeenshire village at the mouth of the River Ythan, and it’s the gateway to two brilliant bits of coast: a huge, wild colony of seals that hauls out on the estuary sandbanks, and the Sands of Forvie — one of the largest and least-spoilt sand-dune systems in Britain, a national nature reserve alive with terns, eiders and geese. Add a lonely medieval lost village buried in the dunes and you’ve got a genuinely special stretch of the north-east that far fewer people visit than they should.

Where it is

Newburgh sits on the Aberdeenshire coast about 14 miles north of Aberdeen and a couple of miles from Ellon, where the Ythan meets the North Sea. Balmedie and its vast dune beach are just to the south; Cruden Bay and Slains Castle are a short way north. (Don’t confuse it with the other Newburgh, in Fife — this is the Aberdeenshire one.)

The seals of the Ythan

The mouth of the Ythan estuary with sandbanks at Newburgh. — The estuary mouth — the seals haul out on the sandbanks across the channel.

The star attraction is the seal colony at the mouth of the Ythan. On the sandbanks opposite the Newburgh dunes, hundreds of grey and common seals haul out to rest, and on a good day it’s an astonishing sight and sound — a whole beach of them, with the pups among the herd in season. You watch from the Newburgh side, across the channel, which is exactly as it should be: it keeps a respectful distance and doesn’t disturb them.

⚠ Please don’t cross to the seals. Wildlife groups ask visitors not to wade or walk out onto the seals’ sandbar. Getting close panics the colony into a stampede for the water, which can crush pups and exhausts the adults. Watch and photograph from the Newburgh beach and dunes — a long lens beats a short walk.

The Sands of Forvie National Nature Reserve

The dune heath of the Sands of Forvie nature reserve. — The Sands of Forvie — a rare, undeveloped dune wilderness.

North of the river mouth stretches Forvie — one of Britain’s largest tracts of undisturbed coastal dunes, rolling from beach to heath with barely a building in sight. It’s a National Nature Reserve of real importance for birds:

Internationally significant breeding tern colonies — Sandwich, common, little and Arctic terns nest in the dunes each summer.
The largest breeding concentration of eider ducks in Britain (“Cuddy’s ducks”), and huge skeins of pink-footed geese in autumn.

A sandy path winding through the dunes at Forvie. — Miles of dune paths — and hardly another soul.

Waymarked paths run in from the reserve centre near Collieston and along the coast. Note that to protect the nesting terns, part of the reserve near the river mouth is closed off during the breeding season (roughly April to August) — the paths are clearly signed, so it’s easy to walk it responsibly.

The lost village of Forvie

Hidden in the dunes are the ruins of Forvie Kirk — all that’s left of a medieval village that the sand swallowed. In the 15th century a great, days-long sandstorm is said to have buried the whole settlement, and local legend blames a curse laid by three dispossessed daughters. Whatever the truth, the dunes really did overwhelm a working village here, and the roofless little kirk standing among the marram grass is a haunting thing to come upon.

The beach & the walk

Moody sea and sky over the beach at Newburgh. — Big north-east skies over the shore.

From the Newburgh beach car park a short walk over the dunes brings you to the estuary and the long open sands — a wonderful, blowy, wide-horizon stretch to walk a dog and watch the seals and the birds. It’s never crowded, and the light out here is superb.

Ploughed farmland running down to the sea near Newburgh. — Farmland running straight down to the North Sea.

Back in the village there’s a links golf course and somewhere for a coffee to round off the walk.

Coffee and toast in a cafe at Newburgh. — Warming up after the wind off the sea.

Nearby

Balmedie Country Park — the vast dune beach just to the south, with a cracking free overnight.
Cruden Bay — further up the coast: a pink-sand beach and Dracula’s Slains Castle.

Sources

NatureScot — Forvie NNR (dunes, terns, eiders, the seal colony and access seasons).
Wikishire & Canmore on the lost village and Forvie Kirk.
Everything first-hand is from our own visit to Newburgh and the Ythan.