Everything is blooming now

Yesterday was a beautifully sunny but chilly day. Colinton Dell is beautiful at the moment, full of Spring flowers. The wild garlic is coming into bloom now

while the few flowered leeks are well on,

 parts of the Dells are carpeted with them, including the site of the old Kate's Mill

They are very pretty, but few flowered leeks are invasive, non-native species, that are gradually pushing the wild garlic out of the area. One way of controlling them would be to selectively forage the leeks in place of the wild garlic, the leaves of both make good pesto.....

The first cherry trees are in bloom in the Dells

and, for the first time that I remember, there are cowslips in the wildflower meadow that the Water of Leith Conservation Trust planted on the site of the old Bog's Mill

And the larch flowers continue their progress towards becoming cones

and let's not forget the beautiful wood sorrel, which is just coming into bloom, a lovely flower, indicator of ancient woodland, growing here amidst mosses and ivy on top of a stone wall.