Heading for Edinburgh, lad skirting northern wood (5)
I believe the answer is:
ebony
'wood' is the definition.
(ebony is a kind of wood)
'heading for edinburgh lad skirting northern' is the wordplay.
'heading for' suggests taking the first letters.
'lad' becomes 'boy' (I've seen this before**).
'skirting' is an insertion indicator.
'northern' becomes 'n' (abbreviation e.g. N. Ireland).
The first letter of 'edinburgh' is 'e'.
'boy' placed around 'n' is 'bony'.
'e'+'bony'='EBONY'
(Other definitions for ebony that I've seen before include "Hard dark-coloured wood" , "Tree having black wood" , "Very dark black" , "Hard wood used for black piano keys and in cabinetwork" , "Wood - Boyne (anag)" .)