Ana Half-Tail was the first example of a neighbourhood alpha male who we had come across. Once word got round that there was food and water available in The Cat’s domain (and word got around fast), more cats started to visit and we soon started to recognise them. Of course they were feral and completely averse to any human presence, but there was a lot we could learn by watching and listening.

During Ana’s reign, there was one other dominant alpha male in the neighbourhood, and this was Mr Grey. We had noticed that he had a soft spot for The Cat, so taking the control of her garden from her son was top of his agenda. He was a handsome cat, but ruthless and cunning and soon his name was changed from Mr Grey to The Evil Grey.

He would pick fights with Ana, and in the end, he and Ana both disappeared around the same time; strangely, The Evil Grey reappeared a year or more later, rebranded as Sunday, an older and more mellow version of the original cat.

The next notable alpha in the neighbourhood was Saturday. He was an orange cat which made him quite irresistible to The Cat. He soon made himself at home in the garden – in fact, he was at home anywhere he chose, especially with his reputation, which preceded him.

Saturday felt that fighting was a last resort and preferred to start off by bullying the younger, aspirational males of the locality. For the most part, the other males were delighted not to have to fight Saturday, and would slink off, heads down and tail between legs, which was of course Saturday’s intention.

The next arrival was Mr Tiffin, a handsome grey-and-white gentleman with beautiful peppermint-green eyes. Mr Tiffin was the first love of The Cat’s daughter Sprocket.

He was not as chunky a build as the others, but he was nimble and clever. The Cat, although not enamoured as she was of the orange gentlemen, was not averse to Mr Tiffin and would happily nap nearby when he was in the garden, rather in the manner of the matriarch tolerating her potential future son-in-law.

When NVQ was first spotted, there were not many black-and-white cats around, which made him noticeable. He was a big, powerful cat, a loner and completely feral.

NVQ was surly in demeanour and single-minded in his determination to be top cat. The Cat was ambivalent to him – obviously he was not orange and thus came way down her list of desirable companions. But in any case, it wouldn’t have made any different to NVQ whether The Cat liked him or not – being liked was not on his agenda and he would far rather have been feared.

Soon after NVQ came Mr Bright. The Cat was in her later years and, although still fond of orange gentlemen, more inclined to nap the days away under the fruit trees rather than expend any energy, especially the sort which might result in kittens.

Saturday had been the last orange alpha male, and there were quite a lot of similarities between him and Mr Bright who was big and solid, a ferocious fighter whose mere presence caused younger wannabe alpha-males to scatter. Even with a damaged leg and a limp in his later years, he was still formidable.

The last of the big alpha males during The Cat’s time was Izit (full name Izambard the Italian) who arrived during the pandemic months.

He was a big, mature cat, once again feral, and was the first peach-coloured cat to visit The Cat’s garden. He was confident in his abilities and it didn’t take long for him to establish himself as one of the top males. Pascha, The Cat’s great-grandson, was doubtless fathered by Izit and also grew into an exceptionally well-built peach-coloured cat.

Of course there were other alpha males during The Cat’s time (eg Thundercat and The Cat’s son Blackfur) and plenty of males without any pretensions to the title; the fields surrounding The Cat’s garden were plenty big enough for multiple alpha-males to coexist, all with their own patch of territory, but the cats listed here were ruthlessly single-minded in their determination, and that set them apart.