Feeding time was important to all the cats. The most nervous ferals made sure to visit when there were no humans around, but some of them, whilst never friendly, were willing to tolerate human presence (at a safe distance) for the luxury of a bowl of food.

There were a few new faces and a couple of new families as summer headed into autumn.

Cracker had a new family who she brought to the garden; the photo shows her with Shamrock, one of her kittens. Sadly, after the hard summer, they were not strong and were only with us for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, they had arrived in the garden too late for us to help them in any meaningful way.

She-ba had also had a family in the fields. She was much less friendly and preferred to bring them to the bowls in the path and drive for weaning so she could avoid the humans. At this point, none of the four kittens (Moonstruck (black-and-white), Sundown (calico), Cosmos (peach/white) and Orion (grey/white)) were friendly, although as time passed Moonstruck and Sundown chose to move into the garden, this spending more time around the humans. The header photos shows Sundown sharing a bowl with Tumbleweed.

Phantom’s daughter Braveheart was growing up and living an independent life in the fields. Braveheart also preferred to eat in the drive although she was tolerant of humans at a distance. She was almost definitely NVQ’s daughter, built big and strong, but with her mother’s quieter disposition.

Thundercat, while essentially a feral alpha-male, preferred to eat in the garden which was quite a clever move, given that his potential enemies (the other feral alpha-males) ate in the drive and path. He fitted in well, and is pictured here with Cracker at feeding time.

And of course, for the more familiar faces of the Garden Family cats, the twice-a-day feeds were a time to come together and eat their fill together, then spend some time grooming and playing before taking a nap.

The photo shows L-R : Raven, Pascha, Dandy Grey, Checkers, Sherpa and Linnet, with Pippin on the right.