Cherry

The small birds can rest a little more securely on their perches and the local mice relax in their holes following the death last night, at the ripe age of nineteen, of the older of our two cats. Cherry was  a Suffolk cat, brought all the way up here by Maureen. The local toms obviously appreciated her arrival as she had a rather-too-early litter of five kittens, four of whom, in due course, took up residence in houses around the peninsula.

Sadly for the mice and small birds, Cherry's daughter Bandit is still very active. She's seen here hunting a young blackbird which is just visible at top right of the picture.

We think the bird was injured by the local sparrowhawk, which had been in the garden a few minutes earlier, as it had a damaged wing. However, young as it was, it was sensible enough to remain very still indeed until Bandit lost interest.