The Garden Family initially consisted of The Cat and her family, but as other cats and kittens arrived and started to settle in the garden, they too became part of the Garden Family. But that did not mean that they spent their time exclusively in the garden; in fact, The Cat and her family spent quite a lot of their time out and about – it was in their nature to hunt and roam.

So, while the Garden Family cats could have spent their lives in the relative comfort and safety of the garden, they chose not to. And why should they? After all, the fields contained prickly pear bushes for the cats to sleep in, the undergrowth harboured small mammals for the cats to hunt, there were trees to climb and walls to scale, and plenty of adventures to be had.

Today’s photos show a few of the Garden Family in the fields, doing cattish stuff and generally having an excellent time out and about.

First is She-ba in the prickly pear bush in the field. She-ba was Visitor Cat’s daughter and was born in the fields, coming into the garden when she was a few weeks old for weaning. She-ba was a regular visitor at mealtimes for many years but was never friendly; her roots were feral and she was most at home in the fields, away from humans.

The Cat’s son Blackfur had an on/off relationship with the fields. He was never one of the ambitious males who wanted to be ‘the’ alpha-male of the neighbourhood, although he would stand up for himself if the need arose. Blackfur had had a skirmish with a car as a young cat and this made him wary of the road – an excellent way to be. So he kept himself to the fields on the same side of the road as the garden, roaming there and returning to the garden at mealtimes.

Dawn was Twilight’s daughter and, although she was quite at home in the garden and happy to be around the humans, the fields were her home. Here she is climbing the almond tree in the field adjacent to the driveway.

The Cat’s daughter Flora inherited the garden from her mother, becoming the matriarch after the death of The Cat. There was no need for Flora to roam – she had everything she needed in the garden – but still she chose to spend time out in the fields.

The prickly pear cactus were used to mark the boundaries between different farmers’ fields. The leaves were large and often quite flat and horizontal, and not necessarily as spiny as you might think. Certain cats like She-ba’s daughter Sundown liked to nap in the prickly pear; they were safe as they were off the ground and not accessible to the farmers’ dogs which sometimes roamed the fields, and the flat leaves made a handy cat-sized bed. Deeper inside the bush there was shade from the sun and shelter from the rain and they were safe places for kittens to learn to climb (as you can see from the header photo which shows The Cat’s kittens).

It seemed that, however comfortable and convenient the garden was, the cats were still drawn to the fields for hunting and relaxing.