Visitor Cat was the first cat we saw The Cat chase out of the garden. From that moment on, lines were drawn and, as far as The Cat was concerned, Visitor was not welcome in her garden, although anywhere above ground level was an acceptable, including the garden walls and plant ledges. So Visitor continued to come to eat, but we placed her food and water on top of the garden wall so her paws should not touch the hallowed ground and mortally offend The Cat.

Then Visitor gave birth to kittens in the fields. We saw two playing together – a dark tortoiseshell and an orange kitten.

They seemed healthy and strong, and, in the fulness of time, Visitor brought she brought Wee Tortie and Wee Ginge (as we had named them) to the front path for weaning but sadly, a week or two later, we found Wee Tortie passed away in the fields.

There must have been some hard negotiating done overnight as, the following morning, Visitor Cat and Wee Ginge (now renamed Tiger) had moved into the garden. The Cat, as matriarch and boss of her garden, had obviously relented. Visitor and young Tiger were initially allowed to use one particular section of the garden, but things relaxed after a week or so, and, when Tiger was weaned, Visitor duly left the garden and Tiger remained, joining the Garden Family.

Visitor’s next kittens were brought up in the fields. There were four kittens – Cheese and Cracker (who were identical twin girls, both black with a little white patch), T and Biscuit.

Sadly Biscuit was killed by dogs and the remaining three kittens moved into the garden and joined the Garden Family. They were already weaned, so Visitor did not join them. Thankfully, The Cat did not seem bothered by the new arrivals and they integrated well with the other young cats who were already there.

And then history repeated itself. Visitor once again had a family in the fields (this time we called them She-Girl 1, She-Girl 2 and He-Boy). Sadly it was He-Boy who lost his life, this time on the road, and Visitor found herself once again at the mercy of The Cat who allowed her to bring the girls (now named She-ba and Fennel) into the garden where they lived on the verandah with Visitor, safely away from the road.

The girls were feral and not friendly, and when they were weaned, and they left the garden with Visitor and they returned together, to life in the fields.

Visitor was friendly but feisty and was one of only two cats in all those years to bite me. She was incredibly fast, and her mood could changed like the flick of a switch – she was a true tortoiseshell and it was a sad day when, like Biscuit, she fell foul of a pack of dogs. Instead of running like the wind to the garden where she would have been safe, she ran in the opposite direction, into unfamiliar territory, because she didn’t want to lead the dogs back to the area where She-ba and Fennel were.

We never saw Visitor again, but She-ba went on to have her own family and Visitor’s line carried on.