With Dawn being a mostly-absent mother, Sherpa was in desperate need of a feline family, of other cats to look up to and learn from, and a family group to feel part of. Spending time with the humans twice a day at feeding time was not enough, which was where Cheese came in.

Cheese and Sherpa needed no trial period as they bonded immediately. It had been the right decision to place Sherpa in Cheese’s care – she was enjoying having a ready-made family but with the freedom to come and go as she pleased, without worrying about nursing tiny kittens.

And giving Sherpa his name had also been the right decision. Dawn had given birth to her kittens in the fields and, when she decided the time was right to bring them to the garden, she chose to carry them one by one to the top of the highest wall. They were active and wriggly kittens and two of them fell off while their mother was away collecting the next one. Luckily Bechers (for Bechers Brook) and Fosbury (Fosbury Flop) fell onto a soft bed of dry leaves, so the most damage that was done was a splash of water as they landed next to the water bowl.

At that point the humans felt they must intervene. Kitten number three (who we named Sherpa for his mountaineering skills) was a feisty, noisy kitten and he fought tooth and claw on the top of the high wall as a human teetered on the long ladder, before being rescued and carried to join his siblings in their leafy nest in the garden. Dawn carried her fourth kitten, Scruffy, to her waiting family; they spent the next two weeks in the garden but sadly Scruffy, Bechers and Fosbury were not strong and only Sherpa survived.

Sherpa was turning into an outgoing and cheeky kitten. He quickly developed a special bond with Pascha who had lost littermate Pascal during the summer; Pascha was partially sighted and it seemed there was an element of déjà vu in naming Sherpa, as we watched this tiny kitten become the guide for his partially sighted big fur-brother. They ate together and they played together, just as Pascha had with Pascal a few months earlier.

Despite the difference in age, they were well-matched, with Pascha playing gently, just as a parent or older sibling would with a kitten, and Sherpa going all out to beat him.

Dawn’s son Raven was Sherpa’s older brother. In many ways, Raven was nothing more than a big, fluffy kitten himself at heart, so was the perfect big brother and playmate for the little newcomer. The header picture shows Raven supervising Sherpa’s dinnertime – carrying out his big-brother duties with care and attention.

Raven’s patience and happy and playful disposition lent themselves well to kitten-sitting and he and Sherpa spent many a happy hour tussling and playing.

Even Flora’s daughter Satsuma became one of Sherpa’s playmates; she was a patient girl and happily allowed Sherpa to play with her stumpy tail and play chase through the long grass, occasionally admonishing the cheeky youngster with a quick pat on the head from her paw.

Sherpa was bringing new life in the garden, and living for Fosbury, Bechers and Scruffy.