Anna had been looking after Bear, a large and handsome Maine Coon,in loco parentis for her daughter for some years, and when he died, Anna was left with a cat-sized hole in her life, which was filled with a kitten - another black Maine Coon - called Phercad. Reason for the name ? Well, Phercad is one of the stars in the constellation Ursa Minor, the Little Bear, so it seemed appropriate somehow.

He is getting to be quite an old man now, but loves his life here on Orkney where he has a nice sunny spot on a windowsill where he can see what's going on and enjoy relaxing.

Phercad took his last journey to the vet on 22 January 2022, aged 24 years. He had a long and - we think - happy life with us even in his later days when he was very thin but even then, two days before he had done his usual "tour" of the garden, running back when he saw me in the hope of some extra treats. Then overnight on the Thursday he went blind in both eyes, poor old boy. We really felt that his life would have no more joy so ...

We had him cremated as the ground here has about 2 inches of soil over solid bedrock so a grave just wasn't going to be possible. His ashes will be scattered under the bush where he used to lie in the sun, bleaching his fur and rather hoping that a mouse might run into his mouth.

We will miss you Phercad, but expect you have returned to your constellation - as you can see from this graphic, there was a sudden, previously unpredicted, burst of Aurora in the evening taking him back. We hope that you will find plenty of squirrels to harrass, just as you did when we lived in Suffolk ... and lots of bits of fresh squid which was your absolute favourite treat!