And as the pandemic continued into the summer months, more new Visiting Cats came to eat, namely Boomerang, il-Ħadd and FifteenThirty.

Boomerang arrived, disappeared, and then came back, hence his name. Maybe he had a feeder nearby and was checking in every few days to see if they had returned.

He was a handsome cat who was used to humans but not friendly; thankfully he had no desire to fight his way to the top of the hierarchy and was a polite and well-mannered character, so he fitted in well, was tolerated by the other cats, and was easy to care for.

il-Ħadd, on the other hand, was not so laid back. He resembled Sunday (his name means Sunday in Malti) and was completely feral.

He was keen to fight, and probably had already come across NVQ and Mr Bright in the fields – if he hadn’t already met them, he certainly would have during his visits to the feeding bowls. In the photo below, he is having a set-to with BBC and Thundercat who must have seen him a something of a threat as neither of them were usually overtly aggressive in their behaviour.

And last but not least, there was FifteenThirty who strolled up the front path to the feeding bowls one afternoon in July (and was named for the time she used to come to eat). She was a sweet cat, very affectionate, and obviously accustomed to human contact.

After a short while, it transpired that, like Pikabu and Mr Grey/Sunday, she had a lovely home at the local pet shop (where, ironically, we bought the food which she then ate in our front path – see header image for proof). She liked to roam and had her own routine, coming during the afternoon when most of the other cats were resting in the fields.

Friendly, tolerant and feral – the new cats who were arriving certainly did not conform to any sort of stereotype.