Corstorphine Chestnut

I don't know why we never took the children to Corstorphine Hill, probably because Blackford was on our doorstep, whereas Corstorphine is the other side of town. I discovered today that it is a gem of a walk.

We first looked at Clermiston tower which was erected in 1871 by William Mackie of Dreghorn to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Sir Walter Scott. It was presented to the city in 1932 on the centenary of Scott's death. We then walked right up to the northern end, up and down, over good paths and ice-smoothed rock, listening to the birdsong. One, sounding like a referee's whistle, we discovered to be a nuthatch, the first I've seen in Edinburgh. The trees were coming into leaf and I particularly liked this horse chestnut with the flower developing and the leaves still drooping down.

The hill is very popular with dogwalkers, in fact we hardly saw anyone else without a dog (or several) but there is plenty of space for everone on the many different pathways.