It didn’t seem that long ago that there had been a glut of orange Visiting Cats, in fact so many at one time that we started giving them numbers instead of names. But now it was the turn of black-and-white males to dominate the area. This may have been due to the continued rule of neighbourhood alpha-male and all-round bad boy NVQ (black-and-white), especially given that Mr Bright (orange) was feeling his age and had sustained a few injuries over the years.

Blackfur was the only surviving black-and-white offspring of his mother, The Cat (who had always had a soft spot for orange gentlemen). Since his accident on the road, Blackfur spent his days in the garden and the neighbouring fields, avoiding crossing the road at all costs. He was a handsome cat and clever with it, quick to learn and adapt and deeply intuitive.

CoffeeCat was a ‘seasonal’ Visiting Cat inasmuch as he only came for the same few months every year; presumably his regular feeder spent the winter months out of the country or maybe he was fed by a farmer who didn’t come to the fields during the bad weather. He remained feral, uninterested in getting any closer to the humans, although he tolerated them when he was in the garden as he knew that it was in his interests to be near the front of the queue when it came to food. He seemed like a sweet cat and we never saw any hint of aggression from him.

Visiting Cat Twilight’s soft spot was for NVQ and she had two kittens, Arash and Bala, who were probably fathered by NVQ who was unusually tolerant and protective, particularly of Bala. Here, NVQ lies patiently in the sun while Bala eats his fill at the bowls in the drive. In the case of most other cats, NVQ would have roundly chased them away so he could take over their food bowl – he was not the sort of cat who was given to being kind or thoughtful.

And of course FifteenThirty was still visiting, walking down the road every day from the pet shop where she lived, to eat the food we bought from there in our front path. She was a very sweet cat, an indoor/outdoor cat with a loving human who realised that FifteenThirty needed outdoor time, space to roam and explore, in addition to the comforts of indoor living.

The Cat wasn’t too bothered that the reign of the orange cats seemed to be over; she was too busy sleeping in the sun and enjoying a quieter life in the garden.