It had been a year of many losses, adults and kittens, healthy and infirm. But with the summer passed, a new season was coming to The Cat’s garden (with Flora as its head), and to the fields – the domain of the feral and Visiting Cats.

Three of She-ba’s kittens were coming to eat and the girls, Sundown (a dilute calico) and Moonstruck (black-and-white like her father, NVQ) set up home in the garden. Their brother Cosmos, for some reason, gravitated to live near the garden on the other side of the fields where Visitor Cat, BBC and Ghost came from. Sundown had become strongly bonded with her big sister, Mini. Moonstruck was the runt of the litter and had an awful flea infestation which meant she had to be socialised in order to be treated. Fortunately, this only took two days as she had such a lovely disposition; it would have been a very different story, had it been Sundown. After that, Moonstruck was fully integrated with the Garden Family while Sundown and Mini, both wary and not keen on humans, stayed slightly apart.

The oldest member of The Cat’s family who still visited was her daughter, Whitefur, who was based in the fields opposite. She came to eat and nap before disappearing back over the road. The photo shows Whitefur (front) with Sundown and Moonstruck’s big sister Mini. Whitefur had always been a free spirit, roaming as she pleased, not tied to any one place.

Younger than his sister Whitefur by only a few minutes was The Cat’s son Blackfur, who remained the dominant male of the garden although, as a wise cat, there were times when the other males like NVQ and Mr Bright were around that it was more prudent to quietly slip away than court confrontation.

Dawn, the mother of Linnet, Raven and Sherpa, was a regular visitor for food but spent her time in the fields. She was very affectionate, but also very possessive of the humans and could be disruptive at mealtimes, rather like her mother, Twilight.

Tumbleweed, the joker of The Garden Family, divided his time between the garden and the fields, spending his happiest hours with his best friend, Arash. Tumbleweed and Arash were related; it was one of those complicated cat relationships where Arash’s mother Twilight was Tumbleweed’s grandmother but, to make things more confusing, Tumbleweed was the older of the two. Maybe that made the boys first cousins – whatever label we give it, they were an unlikely but serendipitous pairing and took great pleasure from each other’s company.

And Kiwi, who had been coming regularly to eat for years, was still visiting. She made occasional forays into the garden and drive, but preferred to spend her time in the front path where she didn’t have to share the humans with as many other cats.

Kiwi not-so-guilty pleasure was the doormat just inside the front door of the house, and it was her enduring aim to push her way into the house and flop down on the doormat, squirming and wriggling to her heart’s content. In fact, that probably explains why she preferred to spend her time in the front path rather than the drive or the garden.