True black cats were few and far between. More common were the ‘almost-black’ cats – we thought some of them were black at first glance, but as they became more regular visitors and we could get closer to them, we noticed many of them had tiny white bibs.

The Cat herself had two completely black kittens. The first was Prince (a male kitten who was first named Boss, before his name was changed to Prince, after which we discovered he was a she).

And then came Furrileesa who was Flora’s brother. It seemed that, for The Cat, black kittens would always be the runt of the litter, smaller and more frail than the others (but often endowed with enough brains for the whole family).

In the world of the feral cats from the fields, Sultan and Longtail were the first completely black cats who came to eat. Sultan was an occasional visitor, usually coming to eat in the front path around midday on a Sunday, maybe because he was fed by a farmer who did not work on a Sunday.

Longtail and Kiwi first arrived together, but Kiwi fell into the category of ‘almost-black’ whereas Longtail was black, head-to-tail. What there relationship was, we never found out. Maybe Longtail was Kiwi’s brother, or her son – or just a companion and guardian. When Ariel, Kiwi’s daughter, passed away as a kitten, Kiwi and Longtail walked down the road to visit here where she lay, in the full sun of the afternoon; how they knew she had died is still a mystery, but they arrived together to pay their respects within twenty minutes of her passing.

Then there was BBC (Big Black Cat) with his fluffy coat and huge tail who came from a garden across the fields (also featured in the header photo). He was used to humans and got on well with the Garden Family. Although he was a strong and healthy male, he did not have the aggressive personality required to become a neighbourhood alpha-male, so he fitted in well in the garden when he came to eat.

Another true black cat was Muffin, Phantom’s son; unlike Raven, he was an aspiring alpha-male, completely feral, and most comfortable in the fields, although he occasionally came to the terrace to nap.

And Raven, who was born to Dawn, was the youngest of the black cats, carrying the black-cat genes into the next generation.

There could be no doubt that BBC was his father as Raven was simply a smaller version of him, a mini-BBC.