This series of articles is running chronologically and we have come to the last five months of The Cat’s life. There were some big changes going on, although of course the Garden Family and the Visiting Cats were still being looked after just the same.

For a start, The Cat was feeling her age and seemed to be spending most of her time in the garden. In the past, it had always been her family who had gravitated to her side, but now she was making the effort to seek them out, as shown in this photo with her daughter, Whitefur.

We rarely saw her venture out these days, especially since the road and dry stone walls were being replaced (which was another big change in the neighbourhood), causing huge disruption in the fields, not to mention fundamental changes to access for the farmers (and the cats) from the road to the fields. Some cats had given up trying to negotiate the endless mud and piles of stone, and decided to remain on the other side of the road, being fed by the farmers who had their fields there, just as they had done before we arrived at the house.

So it was no surprise that there were very few new feline faces this year. The pandemic had brought an influx of cats, but now some had now returned to their original feeders. Of course some chose to stay in our area and continued to visit, becoming part of the daily comings and goings of the cats in the fields.

So this is a snapshot of the Visiting Cats in January of that year. There was one new face, a pretty little brindle tortoiseshell whose name (Blackfur told us) was Polka. She probably had a home nearby, but preferred to roam.

Izit had become a regular visitor although he was still not friendly, but at least he was less jumpy than he had been with humans around. He had found his place near the top of the alpha-male pecking order and was happy with his lot.

Gypsy was probably older than we realised when she first arrived. She had been a playful cat at first, so full of enthusiasm and life, but by this time she was definitely an older lady and, like The Cat, feeling her years.

Mr Bright was still a force with which to be reckoned, despite having a pronounced limp on one of his front legs. But the younger males were still in awe of him and just one glance in their direction would send them scattering. He was definitely still one of the top males of the neighbourhood.

NotNVQ continued to balance up regular trips to the food bowls with basking in the sun. He had plenty of time for his two favourite activities as he was not interested in fighting with the other males and had settled into life in the garden, showing no animosity to other males unless they were aggressive towards him first.

And so the old faces and not-so-old faces continued to weave their patterns in the daily fabric of life in the fields while The Cat, however old she may have been, presided over life in her garden.