For the first few years that we looked after The Cat, she came to the drive to eat but spent much of her day in the fields. But, when she finally permitted human touch after three years, she started spending more time in the garden so we started to feed her there. Naturally this meant that more Visiting Cats started to come to the garden and we became more aware of who was who, where they came from, and what sort of characters they were.

Sometimes the early photos and first impressions of cats were quickly forgotten as the months and years passed and we got to know the cats better, so today here are early photos of four of the first Visiting Cats to come to the garden.

This Tabby cat was only spotted in the garden once or twice. Judging from the size of the paws, we guessed it was a male and, as at the time most of the neighbourhood male cat were orange or grey-and-white, a tabby cat stood out.

This was Mr Grey, a cat of many names. When he first arrived, he was deeply enamoured of The Cat and would gaze in lovelorn fashion through the window between the drive and the garden at her. Soon he staged a takeover of the garden, making The Cat’s son Ana Half-Tail his sworn enemy and doing his best to drive him out and take over control of the garden (and his love, The Cat). At this point, Mr Grey became The Evil Grey, as our allegiance lay with Ana.

The Evil Grey disappeared but, a couple of years later, a new cat arrived who eventually turned out to be The Evil Grey. By the time we realised they were the same cat, the ‘newcomer’ had been renamed Sunday, and he carried his new name for the rest of his time.

Saturday was The Cat’s sort of gentleman. He was a powerful, orange feral and ruthless in his ambition to remain the alpha-male of the neighbourhood. He and The Cat enjoyed each other’s company, eating and napping together in the garden. Younger up-and-coming males avoided Saturday, who was a fierce fighter and determined to protect his place at the top.

Early visitors to the garden were not all male, although The Cat seemed more tolerant of males than of females. Female cat Visitor Cat was The Cat’s arch-enemy, not through any fault of Visitor’s, but just because The Cat took a strong dislike to her and decided that Visitor was not welcome in the garden.

In later years, an accommodation was reached between The Cat and Visitor which allowed Visitor to bring her kitten Tiger into the garden for safety, and the following year a similar arrangement was made for kittens She-ba and Fennel. In these cases, Visitor had clearly identifiable areas which she and her kittens could use – you can only imagine negotiations going on late into the night with The Cat and Visitor head-to-head, discussing the finer points of the truce which would allow The Cat’s arch enemy to live in the garden until her kittens were weaned.