The life of a feral cat in the fields might seem harsh to some, but it is all they know. Feral cats are born feral, and they live a very different life to stray or abandoned cats or pets.

Feral mothers are just as fiercely protective of their youngsters as are any other mothers. They know every inch of the fields and, apart from the lack of food and water (which of course are essential for nursing mothers, and later for weaning kittens) the fields provide everything a feral mother and her brood need.

It was The Cat’s choice to give birth to some of her kittens in the fields, and they grew up into happy and fulfilled cats, as did the kittens of other feral mothers. The mothers knew that there would be food and water available in the garden, drive and path when it came to weaning, but in the meantime the fields provided so much education and entertainment for the kittens, tussling and fighting in the undergrowth, learning to climb, and discovering the best places to shelter from the sun in the summer and the rain in the winter.

Fickle, Fleckle, Fred (pictured) and sister Drip were born to The Cat and raised in the field.

They learnt to climb in the prickly pear bushes and played in the field; it was an adventure playground for them, as Drip and Fickle demonstrate here.

The Cat also gave birth to Pedal, Ratchet and Sprocket in the field. Like their older brothers and sisters, they played and adventured until their mother decided it was time for weaning and brought them to the drive and subsequently the garden.

By this time, The Cat was becoming more friendly and was more disposed to trust the humans with her offspring, which made weaning a lot easier for the kittens, and life a lot less stressful for The Cat. Pictured below are Ratchet and Pedal, play-fighting in the field.

When Sprocket had her own family in later years, she and her mother joined forces in the garden and brought their kittens up together, in one big colony.

Phantom’s mother (who we never met) brought her to the field and, after a couple of days there together, left her young daughter and headed off without her. This is the only photo we have of them together in the field.

In later years, Phantom brought her own family up in the fields, just as her mother had done with her. The kittens were resourceful and smart and even found a shortcut through one of the dry stone walls where gaps had been left for drainage. If you look closely, you can see Phantom’s kitten Rocky peering out.

And Storm, who had been born to Twilight and brought up in the fields, similarly brought up her son Tumbleweed in the fields as well. In this photo, Storm had left local alpha-male Thundercat in charge of kitten-sitting her son while she went off into the fields.

Tumbleweed came to the drive for weaning and later joined the Garden Family where his playful disposition meant he fitted in well and got along with everyone.