Pentlands – Covenanters Wood and the Polo Field

The field near Laverockbank and Bonaly that Miller Homes destroyed for ever. The A720 runs behind the line of trees. Behind the woods Howden Glen leads up the Pentland Hills.

This is the view of the path back to Laverockdale and Colinton. Covenanters Wood is looking rather splendid on this day in May 2011.

A720 bridge over the Bonaly Burn.

Beside Redford Road (just west of the entrance to Dreghorn Barracks) is this old stone bridge. The northern entrance to Covenanters Wood is nearby. January 2004.

A minute's walk away from Redford Road is this tranquil scene beside the Braid Burn. A pleasant walk through the woods with birds singing.

Recycling in action. Nothing is wasted in nature.

100 metres west of Redford Barracks perimeter fence is this spot where Howden Burn (middle left) merges with Bonaly Burn (flowing east towards the camera) to become Braid Burn.

Yet more recycling in action. Mother Nature isn't inactive, even in January. A moss covered log is complemented by attractive green leaves growing on the wet leaf litter from 2003's autumn.

The bare winter trees let the sun shine onto the ground. Soon new life will sprout once more.

Trees here show evidence of being coppiced for use as fence posts etc. Cutting them close to the ground encourages this kind of growth, which can be harvested periodically.

This is the view as you emerge from the woods into more open ground, beyond which is the A720 Edinburgh City Bypass.

Taken from further up the open ground, looking back down towards the woods. I fear the bulldozers will soon blight this landscape. If not, springtime will soon adorn the trees with green leaves once again.

A mature beech tree towers above its neighbours. A natural resource, indeed, hopefully not just as a convenient source of hardwood.

At the southernmost point of the woodland walk, bounded by the A720. Traffic swishes past with the phasey sound of rubber on tarmac and air displaced by metal. A yellow emergency SOS phone rises up just beyond the fence.

This is a solitary redwood Sequoia tree, hardly a giant but it could be one day if left in peace. Perhaps it will soon become a tradeable asset, a feature of an up-market Miller home.

Coppiced beech if I'm not mistaken. Photographed just behind the houses in Redford Loan.

Growing beside the Braid Burn, just before it flows under Redford Road, is this beatiful old tree.

If you get the 16 bus from town and get off just past Redford Barracks, the muddy path starting beside the old stone bridge (shown above) will lead you to this point - as long as you don't deviate from the path. This is the field where the army used to play polo - hence the name.

There's still a path but it passes the new houses on the left.

A short walk from the southern end of Dreghorn Loan takes you to this spot. It was a misty morning on the 10th of June. Covenanters Wood stretches into the distance at the east side of the field. Follow the right hand path and after half a kilometre you'll pass under the A720 Edinburgh Bypass

Infrared version. It's full of houses now.

A close up of the water droplets clinging to the tall grass in this meadow. Each drop of water is a tiny lens giving an inverted view of the local environment. (now tarmac)

A few years ago a wind-blown seed lodged itself between the brickwork and the concrete slab. It's grown into a tree and cracked the concrete, lifting it by a few inches.

This was at the north end of the Polo Field near Laverockdale.

Masses of buttercups in the meadow. Insects should thrive here as should the small birds that feed on them. June 2011.

A private road connects the top of Dreghorn Loan (parallel to Westgarth Avenue 16 bus terminus) to the Polo Field. Walkers have public access along the road. When returning from a walk this is one of the first buildings encountered. In mid September 2011 the ivy is bright red.

This shows the GPS trace of the path under the A720 and north to the 16 bus terminus beside the tennis courts at Westgarth Avenue. Picture from Google via Samsung Galaxy Tab.

An early start across the frosty grass, heading for the footpath under the A720 bypass. This open vista will soon be dug up and lost forever.

Further into the field and nearer the bypass. In the distance is White Hill which overlooks Bonaly.

Obviously these webs have been built by spiders. I can't help but wonder if the developers have had a biological survey done, in case there are endangered species here. Even bees are endangered nowadays. Insects are needed to pollinate plants to feed humanity.

1st of June 2013 and the Polo Field is still a field. Buttercups are the most visible change today, but these and other forms of wildlife will soon tremble to the rumble of bulldozers.

The entrance to the Polo Field on return from the hills.

This pleasant scene will exist a bit longer but the bulldozers have come in 2014.

After a wet start to the year we ventured out for a walk up the hills. As yet, there's no bulldozers or diggers hereabouts...

Previously photographed in 2010. It prevails 4 years later but I fear its days are numbered.

I stepped back to get the whole tree in. The infrared photo makes the blue sky very dark. The adjacent vegetation has been cleared, perhaps so surveyors could see what lies beneath...

They've started. This is Google Earth's satellite view with additions by me.

The land is being cleared and trees felled immediately to the east of the private road (public footpath).

Down with trees...

It's sad to see so many mature trees getting the chop.

Millennium Groundworks have felled the tree I photographed only six days earlier: Tree & Slab further up the page.

This shows how close the earth works are to the formerly peaceful leafy lane.

Left of centre, another mature tree is ready for the chop.

The new access will be left of the private roadway.

Meantime it's still possible to walk up the private roadway and reach the Polo Field and the path to the Pentlands. It won't be so nice walking past a building site and the subsequent suburbia.

This is the moment you enter the Polo Field when returning from the hills.

When we rounded the corner we were relieved to see that the bulldozers hadn't reached here yet. There were still folk out walking their dogs.

A new bridge has been placed across the Braid Burn so the bulldozers and diggers can start ripping up the meadow. A much bigger bridge will inevitably follow.

Once all the noise and mud has finally gone, wealthy house buyers can move in. They'll doubtless jealously guard the surviving bits of nature around them.

April 8th 2014: A depressing sight at the end of our walk from Ninemileburn.

Presumably this right-of-way will prevail and allow access to the hills.

That container is sitting on the concrete platform where a tree grew until recently.

The Braid Burn flows under the muddy temporary bridge.

Covenanters Wood would appear to be reasonably safe from the developers for the time being.

On the right of the new roadway is the private road which gives walkers access to what remains of the Polo Field. It's still the one of the best walking routes to the hills from Colinton.

Miller's housing scheme is called Polo Field after the meadow it destroyed.

Not only do they have the cheek to name this posh scheme after the meadow which they destroyed, they named the house types after fee-paying schools whose charitable status is questionable.

The stark appearance of this paved path's environs will be mitigated by wind blown seeds as well as planted shrubs probably.

So sad to see green belt built on when there are so many brownfield sites in Edinburgh. I think the local community could have tried a bit harder to protest against this blot on the landscape.

Update 2015 September: Covenanter Wood has been saved.

The paths through the woods have been repaired and resurfaced. Two redwood trees are pictured here.

The scene further along the path.

At the other side of the bypass road from 'Polofields' are the unusual partners of the MOD and Sainsbury's on the Dreghorn Woods sign.

The former Polo Field is now a housing project.

The former Polo Field is now a housing project.