The Waters of Philorth is a small scale estuarine environment which includes a small area of salt marsh and a sand spit. The dunes at Philorth are the youngest of the Fraserburgh system developing on the site in the 1930s and continuing to develop eastwards. The sand dune system holds a lot of vegetation, a saltmarsh section and reed beds which attract a variety of waders, wildfowl and seabirds. The reed beds are important breeding sites providing both shelter and food for the migrating birds. Behind the dune ridge is the more sheltered dune area with increasing diversity of flowering species of plants which attract butterflies such as the Small Cooper and Small Heath. Waters of Philorth is fished using permits.