We’ll start with Pikabu, a handsome grey marbled tabby, who was so-named because he would sit on the front path wall, staring through the windows into the house – when he spotted a human, he would bob his head around as though he was playing hide-and-seek (or peekaboo) so we named him Pikabu. We later discovered that his head-bobbing was due to being partially sighted in his left eye (there is some clouding visible on the photo). Pikabu had a perfectly good home just up the road but liked to come to our front path to dine with the outdoor cats.

Nosewipe also had a home up the road where she was Head of Rodent Control in a carpentry workshop. Her name is pretty self-explanatory, as she really did love wiping her nose on humans’ shoes at every opportunity (the evidence is in the photo!).

Thundercat appeared quite soon after Lightning had disappeared, and their similarities led us to give him a complimentary name. Maybe they were related, maybe not – but they were definitely alike in colouring and build. Thundercat was an up-and-coming alpha-male but without the same ruthless streak of the likes of NVQ and Mr Bright, so he fitted in OK with the other garden diners on the whole, although he was not friendly.

Phantom was brought to the food bowls by her mother who disappeared back into the fields after a few days, leaving her small daughter behind. Phantom’s facial markings reminded us of the Phantom of the Opera’s mask, and so her name came about. Luckily it was a name suitable for a boy or a girl, as we originally thought Phantom was male until s/he became brave enough to come a little closer to the humans, which was when we realised she was a girl.

And finally, BBC who came from a garden across the fields (also pictured in the header photo). BBC was short for Big Black Cat, which was exactly what he was; with his plume of a tail and luxurious coat, he was a fine figure of a cat and became a regular visitor to the garden where he liked to have his tea with the Garden Family.

Choosing names was enjoyable for the humans; sometimes they were themed (especially with families of kittens), but sometimes random according to what suited the individual. They were never duplicated (although we did for one short period have so many orange visitors that we ran out of suitable names and they were known by letters and numbers eg G5, G6, G7 etc) and, where we discovered that the occasional feline had a home with some neighbours, we still gave them their own name when they came to us, which was different from their ‘home’ name.