Dave Bonta's "Scottish beasts" reads like a travel journal made of short snapshots. Each small scene catches an animal, or a person, in a moment of close attention. A tent flaps in the wind. A lone stag wanders a caravan park. Midges bite so hard that the speaker jokes about lifting the net "to take a nip." An oystercatcher yelps with every wingbeat, and a black guillemot totters on big red feet.
The speaker seems amused and curious, never solemn. Humour runs through the sequence: the crowd gathering for squirrels, the odd pair of jobs ("Dry Stone Walling / Mole Control") that suggests a noticeboard or leaflet, and the hill-walkers whose bright clothes are set beside a lizard and a tiger beetle. The last image, white boulders "infiltrating" a flock of sheep, makes a landscape feel playful and a little strange. The mood is relaxed and observant, with a pleasure in noticing small things.