NVQ, Sunday/The Evil Grey/Mr Grey, and Mr Bright had the longest reign of any of the alpha-males.

To round up the alpha-male situation at this time, by now, Sunday had disappeared, but not before we discovered that he actually had a good home up the road where he had food and shelter. Izit had chosen to stay in the neighbourhood and was making his mark; he had chosen not to return to wherever he’d come from during the pandemic months and was still a regular visitor to the food bowls although he had not become any fonder of the humans.

The Cat was no longer with us, and, in addition to NVQ, Mr Bright and Izit, there was one new face and two new up-and-coming alpha-males.

Il-Ħadd (named for his resemblance to Sunday, as il-Ħadd means Sunday) appeared as a mature male. He was completely feral and avoided humans at all costs, thus the lack of photos.

There was also Thundercat (who had arrived at the same time as Ghost and BBC). He had filled out and matured and, unlike BBC, was definitely alpha-male material. He was ambitious but also had a nice streak which made him amenable to the Garden Family. He fitted in well and often came to the garden to eat.

Muffin, Phantom’s son, had grown up in the fields across the road, coming to the drive and front path to eat. He was a lovely cat but completely feral, finding his way in the alpha-male world and picking his fights carefully.

Of all the up-and-coming and wannabe alpha-males, Thundercat and Muffin were making a success of working their way up the ladder; Mr Bright and NVQ were not getting any younger, and there was room for some new characters in the neighbourhood.