While The Cat was being kept busy by Dinky whose determination to move into the garden was proving quite a challenge for The Cat, more Visiting Cats were discovering the food and water which were freely available.

For the first time we had a visiting black cat, a male who we called Longtail. He had opalescent yellow-green eyes and was a handsome young man.

It didn’t take long for Longtail’s friends to arrive, in particular a young tuxedo lady called Quink.

On the one hand, Longtail and Quink were both completely feral and extremely wary of humans, but on the other hand they were hungry and there was food available.

Then there was Mr Tiffin who was one of the new generation of up-and-coming alpha-males and had started visiting the previous year. He and Sprocket had been friendly, and he was a handsome grey-and-white tabby with oval peppermint-green eyes. In the absence of the more established alpha-males (especially of the orange variety), The Cat found him an acceptable companion.

Mystery was exactly that – a mystery. Even from the storeroom roof (which was probably 50ft away) s/he looked terrified that a human might somehow approach, and cautiously travelling the 50ft or so from the field to the front path could take an hour. Needless to say, visits to the food bowls were always after dark. Even choosing between the food bowls was a lengthy process – wet or dry? Dry or wet? Or maybe a drink first. There was just too much choice.

And then there was Pikabu, who got his name from the way he bobbed his head around when peering through the window. It turned out this was because he was partially sighted – and it also turned out that he had a perfectly good, loving home … at the local pet shop. He just preferred to eat the food that we had bought from his human, in our front path.

Pikabu was a cat-share cat and happy to make the most of both worlds.