The first grey Visiting Cat to come to the garden to eat was Mr Grey, a soft-grey-coated male. He had two objectives – to woo The Cat (although this turned out to be harder that he had hoped, given her predilection for orange gentlemen), and to take over control of the garden from Ana (also harder than he had hoped). But Mr Grey was persistent (not to mention in love), although The Cat didn’t pay him much attention at the time as there was a plentiful supply of orange males to keep her occupied.

Soon after Mr Grey arrived, Kbir was spotted in the garden. He was a big, stocky grey-and-white tabby, and completely feral. It was hard to tell what The Cat thought of him as he visited mostly after dark, roaming from the fields and moving on after eating.

At that time, there were virtually no grey or grey-and-white kittens or youngsters, but with the arrival of the first two grey alpha-males, this slowly started to change.

The next grey male to arrive was Mr Tiffin, a grey-and-white mackerel tabby with beautiful peppermint eyes. Sprocket was very fond of him, and he was a regular visitor for a few years, continuing after we lost Sprocket on the road. Mr Tiffin was never friendly but became more tolerant of the humans’ presence. He didn’t seem particularly fond of The Cat, but they were spotted napping together occasionally.

And the last grey male visitor was Pikabu, who was a marbled grey-and-white tabby who was a rescue cat living up the road, but who liked to roam. He had a beautiful coat with big swirls and patterns and was partially sighted. He was a friendly cat and accustomed to having humans around, but liked to live an outdoor life wherever possible.

There were still orange alpha-males in the neighbourhood but, with the arrival of these grey males, the balance of colours within the cat community started to change as feral females fell for the charms of these grey males.