Heraldic wood carver Peter Stewart-Blacker (left) inspects a fibreglass copy of the figurehead that adorns the frigate HMS Unicorn moored in Dundee. The Unicorn is Scotland's national beast dating from its time as an independent nation. The mythical animal is composed of horse, goat and lion parts with a single horn said to contain magical powers. The beast appears on coats of arms opposite it's English counterpart the lion and also on the Mercat cross, the centre of civic life in independent Scotland for centuries.