It was rare to be certain who the father of a certain kitten was, but there were instances in which there was no doubt. And there were other instances when you look back through photos and something that didn’t seem obvious at the time suddenly hits you.

An example of the first was Moonstruck. Born to She-ba in the fields, Moonstruck and siblings Sundown and Cosmos came to the garden for weaning. Moonstruck was black and white and there really can be no doubt that she was the daughter of neighbourhood alpha-male NVQ, with that trademark white patch in the middle of her back. (Cameo appearance at the food bowl is courtesy of Sherpa.)

Here’s NVQ walking through the garden – this photo was taken from the first floor terrace, and the pattern on his back is almost identical to Moonstruck’s.

Moonstruck’s mother was She-ba, a calico with quite a lot of white and the daughter of Visitor Cat.

Funnily, although Moonstruck inherited her father’s colouring, she appeared to inherit neither of her parents’ characters as NVQ was completely feral, while She-ba was grudgingly tolerant of humans, but only if a bowl of food was involved. Moonstruck herself was the sweetest little cat, and the only friendly one of her litter.

And looking back, it seems quite possible in hindsight that Visitor Cat’s son T was the son of Boomerang, one of the cats who arrived around the time of the pandemic. Both Boomerang and T had a black spot under their chin and similar shaped eyes. T was not completely friendly, but he was accustomed to being around humans and reasonably happy so long as no one tried to touch him.

Boomerang must have come looking for food and water from somewhere in the neighbourhood and, when the pandemic restrictions eased and shops reopened and the farmers returned to the fields, Boomerang disappeared back home.

Maybe T inherited his coat from his mother, and they both had slightly fluffy, medium coats whereas Boomerang’s was shorter.

Character-wise, Moonstruck was a particularly sweet little cat and definitely did not take after her father who was aggressive and feral. Boomerang, however, was quite a laid-back cat whereas Visitor was feisty, so it seems likely that T inherited both his looks and his character from his father.