Classic take on animal essays

• Published date: 18 March 2023

Classic essays from two ground-breaking animal writers are reprinted here

John Berger's Opening a Gate uses Pentti Sammallahti's photographs of dogs to meditate on "the brief moments" when "we see between two frames . . . a part of the visible" not "destined for us . . . Dogs, with their running legs, sharp noses and developed memory for sounds are the natural frontier experts of these interstices." Tony Hoagland's heartbreaking The Courage of Turtles is both a song of praise for the magnificence of turtles and a lament for what humans have done to them.

Sara Baume's opening essay features the eponymous "Dave", one of the rooks in the rookery of her mother's garden. Beginning deceptively with what seems a rural idyll, Baume's signature, precise, observational imagery builds into a moving, atmospheric threnody for time's passage. Here Baume accompanies her mother on an atmospheric night-time investigation to see if rooks snore. "The sound the rooks make tonight is a disgruntled squabble as opposed to a snore. Our knees are clammy with dew . . . the eyes of a rat flash from the hedge . . . we . . . hear the voices of people walking home from the pub laughing at a muffled joke."

What unites Baume with the other 15 authors represented here is the absence of any sense of hierarchy between us and our fellow creatures. Darragh McCausland's ruefully funny Light Thickens, set in an addiction treatment centre - its Macbethian title reminding us of another great animal writer - reflects, "Recovery is full of fellowship, colonies of people chattering, looking out for each other, co-operating, like crows in trees."

Animals can break our hearts but there is so much humour here too. Baume and her mother hiding behind the sofa when the doorbell rings or Vona Groake's playful meditation on imaginary pets, underscoring how much care real pets need. Jessica Traynor begins hilariously, "Most dogs I knew growing up were called Brandy or Guinness or Whiskey, but the family who owned Taupe had white-painted walls . . . art in thin frames . . . instead of calling their dog after a drink, they called him after an intangible shade . . . "(Taupe and Precious) before descending into typically uncanny Traynor territory. June Caldwell's ludic...