Dawn’s family spent their first week in the fields while Dawn came to the garden each day for food and water. When the time was right for weaning, she brought her kittens to the garden where they eventually remained, even after Dawn returned to the fields a few weeks later.

Raven was Dawn’s son and brother to Swallow, Cetti and Linnet. His father was BBC (Big Black Cat) who came from another garden across the fields. Raven was the image of him, growing up to have BBC’s stature, fluffy black fur, and easy-going disposition. Cetti was always going to be the alpha-male of their litter, which suited Raven well as he had no desire to take on this rôle.

Here are ten photos of Raven from his first calendar year in the garden (April to December) showing his development from fluffy kitten, through leggy youngster, to young adult. Each photo has its own explanatory caption.

April – one of the first photos of Raven in The Cat’s garden. He was lucky to escape the worst of the viruses which his siblings had, and remained mostly healthy.

May – Raven exploring the garden and already loving boxes; the garden was like an adventure playground for the kittens.

June – Raven had a growing spurt and was looking lean and leggy and had lost some of his fluffy fur during his growing spurt, and due to the hot summer weather (but he still loved boxes!)

July – Raven was turning into a chatty boy, always ready to make his views known. His ear whiskers gave a clue to the longer coat which he was set to develop as the weather cooled in the autumn.

August – you could see Raven’s fluffy coat coming back as he filled out after his growing spurt. Cats groom to keep cool in the hot weather, and those tufts are just that – freshly licked fur.

September – Raven had become a big brother. Luckily for young Sherpa, Raven’s disposition meant he made the perfect playmate and companion, and Raven is pictured here helping teach Sherpa how to wash.

October – Raven had opinions and wanted them to be heard. His chatty nature would remain with him; he was a sociable cat, playful and amusing.

November – this was Raven’s favourite box for rolling around and playing. He would go into overdrive rolling around and playing, and generally ended up sliding sideways onto the ground with a comical and surprised expression on his face.

December – during the colder months, Raven’s coat became thick and fluffy once again and the similarities between him and BBC became even more noticeable.

Raven and his father, BBC – the more the months passed, the more like his father Raven became and the harder it was to tell them apart.

Luckily, Raven had a tiny furless patch beneath his bottom lip, which helped in identification.