Goes with the territory

A huge section of the UK population was recently riveted by a television documentary on the secret life of cats. A bunch of domestic mogs were fitted with GPS collars and tracked as they went about their business (oops!) in a gentrified home counties village.

Not surprisingly it was confirmed that pet cats mostly stick to a familiar territory around their home base, although some do travel further to hunt or to sample other cats' dinners (well, if yours comes from Waitrose and you actually prefer the M&S variety...)

One interesting discovery was that in suburban areas of high feline density cats time-share their territories, routinely emerging to patrol at different periods of the day or night in order to avoid conflict in the undergrowth.

As Casey and I set off for an evening constitutional we encountered Fred strolling back from his own perambulations. He doesn't have to share his territory (which we now know stretches to include a neighbour's curtilege) and he shows every sign of complete confidence that his own meal will be served at whatever time he rolls in.