Greetings, humans! I met my wildest cousins today! We made the two-and-a-bit hour trip by car up to the Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie in the Cairngorms. This was pretty far north. As we crossed the Forth, via the road bridge, we were able to marvel at the architectural wonders of the Forth Bridge which allows people (and most importantly cats) to cross the river by train without getting wet – very useful.
As soon as we had crossed the bridge and entered the Kingdom of Fife, things started to get hilly, but it wasn’t until we arrived in the Highlands proper that these earthen mounds could be called mountains. Sadly though, the mountains were either clad in ecologically-bad monocultures for forestry or stood bare for sheep to graze and game to be hunted. Little biodiversity existed on these mountains which had curiously round tops.
We crossed a mountain pass which can be closed off completely in times of bad weather on the A9. This is a strange road, blending stretches of dual carriageway with single, and alternating thus from Perth all the way to Inverness, a famous place not much further north than the Highland Wildlife Park. 

​We arrived at the Park and, after a re-energising cup of coffee for the humans (I have boundless energy), it was time to meet one of the head honchos of the wildcat conservation programme. We learnt many things about wildcats, particularly that the Scottish and European wildcats are in fact the same subspecies, so if all other conservation fails, European wildcats from the continent can be used to replenish the Scottish population. This sounds like good news, there are many wildcats in Scandinavia, Germany and several Eastern European countries. The Latin subspecies name of Felis silvestris grampia which is sometimes applied to the Scottish wildcat is in fact, then, false, it should just be referred to as Felis silvestris silvestris like the European wildcat. Domestic and feral cats are called Felis silvestris catus if you’re interested. If not, you now know it anyway. I’ll have you speaking fluent biological Latin in no time.
We also learnt that the feline taxa has recently been reorganised from 38 species with over 200 subspecies into 41 species with around 70 subspecies, interesting. They’ll have to re-write the family trees, or cladograms as scientists call them.

​Another interesting piece of learning was that some wildcats can look like domestic cats but genetically be one of our elusive ‘Highland tigers’, whereas some can look like a wildcat but be genetically a feral domestic cat. Confusion – how can you know which is which? Does that mean my handy identification guide from Friday is useless? The answer lies in genetic testing and a cat found to be greater than 75% pure (basically had three wildcat grandparents and one feral) would be considered for captive breeding to re-establish the wild populations. Once habitat has been fixed, that’s a priority, as is the trap, neuter, vaccinate, release of feral domestics, captive bred wildcat kittens might be able to be released back to the wild.
Although it is partly explained on the identification chart from Friday, I can’t resist a chance to impart the wisdom I have learnt, so I will reiterate here the basics of wildcat identification: a wildcat is considered to have a wider jaw than a domestic cat and a black, unbroken dorsal stipe (for those not scientifically inclined that means the stipe running down the spine from the base of the head to the tail). In wildcats this stripe does not continue along the tail, but might do in tabby domestics. Wildcats also have four neck stripes which run parallel to each other from behind the ears to the base of the head, unbroken stripes (like me, no spots) down their sides, five tail rings (very precise) and a thick blunt tail. They don’t have white paws. I seem to be able to tick off the unbroken stripes, the wide jaw (although that is mostly my grin) and the blunt tail, am I secretly part wildcat? Sometimes I feel it.

After this highly educational discussion, it was wildcat food time – chicks and quails. The three adult wildcats were called Grumpy, Ness and Zack, the latter two had three kittens, although only one deigned to appear at this time. All the adults came out for lunch, very wise in my opinion. We were particularly pleased to see Ness pick up a chick and immediately take it to her kittens, that’s a good wild instinct.
On a side note, for animal welfare, live vertebrates are not allowed to be fed to carnivores in captivity in the UK, the birds were already dead and placed in likely places for the beautiful felines to ‘catch’.
Next up, was the grey wolves, who despite having eight apparently ‘cute’ cubs were not my idea of friends. Despite this, we were all approving of the group structure. In the wild wolves live in family groups, with a breeding pair and several non-breeding offspring from previous years’ litters who help with the rearing of the newest litter. This group had the breeding pair, this litter of cubs and six one year old wolves which were born to the pair last year. They were assisting with the new cubs and would be moving on to new wildlife parks once the youngest pack members have grown up a bit. In the wild, young wolves will disperse once they reach sexual maturity, so this will well replicate a real pack. Many captive wolf packs are just a load of unrelated wolves thrown together, this was much better.

​After this we found some reindeer, a wolverine, polar bears and, most importantly, my other cousins, Amur tigers, snow leopards and a lynx. There used to be Pallas cats here but not anymore, much to my disappointment.
The Park also has a drive through area, for the herbivore section which included Przewalski's horses (the ancestors of modern horses), various assorted deer species, buffalos and bison, a family of elks (moose to our American friends) and Bactrian camels (those ones with two humps if you were wondering).

​After the safari, we took the opportunity to say goodbye to my favourite cousins. We timed this well as it was once again food time and we got to see all three kittens (although we only managed to capture one on film, or pixels I suppose would be more accurate in this brave new world of technology). Before us, we beheld the future of this beautiful but endangered subspecies.
Well, perhaps I should make clear the European wildcat, which we now know the Scottish wildcat technically is, is classified by the IUCN as Least Concern, due to their high prevalence in the various countries I mentioned earlier. But the Scottish population may in fact be extinct in the wild due to the high levels of hybridisation with feral domestic cats. This means there are potentially no genetically pure wildcats left in Scotland, instead the few that remain have varying levels of hybridisation with domestic cats. Whist hybridisation might be the biggest risk to the Scottish wildcat, habitat loss and persecution also doesn’t help. The trap, neuter, vaccinate, release programmes I talked about before try to protect my wild cousins but of course, as we now know, looking like a domestic cat doesn’t mean the cats are genetically so. This can cause problems with who to neuter. Rewilding the habitat also needs to be done.
Hopefully the Scottish population can be saved (I will be optimistic, you can be realistic if the mood so takes you), I would love to see my wild cousins roaming free!
With a final goodbye to my relatives, we got back in the car for the long drive back to Edinburgh.

This is the end of my Scotland adventure, and what a series of cat-themed Tails it has been. I love this beautiful country, the hills, the trees, the tantalising promise that my cousins might be out there somewhere. One must visit again, I will return to see my cousins and investigate some more Scottish towns, perhaps I will make it to Inverness, but there’s also Dundee, Aberdeen, Dumfries and Galloway and many, many islands where the feral cats probably outnumber the people. Tomorrow Charlie and I shall board a train back to England and bid this land of haggis, kilts, shortbread, bagpipes and wee things goodbye. When it isn’t Raining this country is truly breath taking. So long, Scotland and farewell to you too, my human friends who have joined me in spirit on this adventure, eagerly (I can hope) tuning into my Tails to roam the Highlands or trek around Edinburgh with me. Allow me to end this entry with a few pictures from the journey back.
Until the next adventure folks,
Chesh.

​Greetings, humans! Today we had a fantastic guided tour of the city provided by Sue. Our first stop was the floral clock, a giant, working clock made entirely of flowers (as the name would suggest). Next up was Edinburgh Castle, history time, where stands were being set up for the military tattoo, which is held in the Castle’s car park every year – it’s more glamorous than it sounds. Huge towers of red and blue plastic seats loomed above us as we walked through to the ticket office and into the outer part of the castle, where we then queued for a while to get tickets. No matter, it provided a good opportunity for pictures of the castle and the view. The castle was built very high up on what almost looks like a rocky cliff face, located in what is now Edinburgh Old Town.

The castle was built in the 12th Century on the top of a spectacular extinct volcano called Castle Rock, the right place to build the castle then! The volcano has been extinct for over 340 million years, so nothing to fear, one hopes.
The Castle was continuously under siege, first by the English, then by the Scots to reclaim their castle, and so the battle went on until the castle eventually became a prison for military prisoners in the 1700s. Now it is one of Scotland’s most popular tourist attractions. Thanks to Edinburghcastle.co.uk and the Edinburgh Castle pamphlet for providing information I could base my history lesson on.

​Once we had our tickets, we could enter the second line of defence (a portcullis and a ticket scanner) up onto the battlements. There were lots of cannons here, all pointing out at the city far below. I am a fan of cannons, usually I like sitting on them, however, one particular cannon was so big I could sit inside it. This was Mons Meg, a particular beauty aimed directly at Debenham’s (not my choice). The cannon balls were bigger than me, which was rather disconcerting. After this we visited St Margaret’s chapel, the oldest building in Edinburgh, built in 1130. Despite its age, it was still in pristine condition although it was very small. However, as it was only designed for one person, I suppose it was actually quite large. 

​Shopping done we then continued along the Royal Mile which runs from the castle through the middle of the Old Town. We cut through some narrow steps and returned to the New Town. Interestingly, the Mound which is between the Old and New Towns was built on top of Edinburgh’s rubbish, which had for decades been tossed into the city’s loch. I was rather alarmed at the mention of the loch, but it was drained three hundred years ago (ish) and now forms Prince’s Park. Even more interestingly, the trains leaving Edinburgh Waverley Station pass through the Mound and under Prince's Park via tunnel, this was the way we passed yesterday on route to Perth, and will pass through again when we leave on Tuesday.
Lunch was found! Holy Cow was a fantastic vegan restaurant located in a basement flat, once we were inside though, it was easy to forget we were half underground. Especially when the food arrived. Both humans ordered burgers which were gargantuan and came with a shovelful of potato wedges. One burger was the Thai carrot, incorporating peanuts, chutney and red cabbage, the other was a falafel burger, topped with carrot and tomato, both garnished with garlic mayo.
The burgers were so big the humans had no room for cake, but the options looked good, raspberry red velvet, assorted cheesecakes, chocolate and peanut butter. I bet they were good.

​Feeling very full, we left Holy Cow and headed through New Town, marvelling at the beautiful (but very expensive) Georgian terraces which, built since 1715 seemed to make up the majority of this section of the city. Yes, the New Town was built in the 1700s.
On the way back, we passed Bute House, the Scottish equivalent of 10 Downing Street, but without all the gates and security guards. Does this say something about the different cultural and political climates, perhaps? I’m a cat, it’s not my place to say.

We crossed back over the famous George Street, at its end with Charlotte Square. The street was meant to have been bookended with churches, however although the Charlotte Square end church did get built, the other book was missing, instead a rich person’s villa was built. Hmm, not sure what happened there. We made it back to Prince’s Street to catch the bus. This street is also nicely contained with the Balmoral and Caledonian Hotels at either end. Both were huge and grand, I’m sure a night in either would have been equally as pricey.
We made it back to the house and sat down to relax for the evening.
Until next time,
Chesh.
PS. Let me leave you with a selection of Edinburgh photos, enjoy!

​Greetings, humans! So, today’s trip was to Perth, as you will know from the title. We took a bus to China town, sorry, Edinburgh city centre, and then myself and Charlie boarded the tiny two-carriage ScotRail train to Perth. I’ve never seen a train so small, seems suspicious.
We left Edinburgh heading north where we crossed the world famous Forth Bridge, shame we were on it and couldn’t actually see it, but the road bridge next to it was very nice, especially the new one. I was ignoring the water, like any self-respecting cat.
We had now arrived in Fife where we stopped at some stations with fantastic names such as Inverkiething, Kirkcaldy (Kih-coddy), Ladybanks before arriving at Perth for lunchtime.

​There were some spectacular mountainous views from the train and a huge hill right next to Perth. On leaving the train station we could see the tree-clad hill rising high above the town/ city (I don’t know) and Charlie spontaneously decided to climb it. This meant crossing the River Tay, which was huge and, not surprisingly, full of water. There were three visible bridges, Charlie foolishly took the longest one which was the train bridge, a small foot bridge attached precariously to its side, held up with scaffolding. This bridge not only crossed the river at its widest point, but also veered off at an alarming angle away from the town making it even longer. 

​Soon, we emerged out of the trees onto a cliff edge with amazing views of mountains and tiny model villages all around us. We sat and enjoyed the view before discovering this was not, in fact, the summit. Fortunately, it was less than 100m away and provided a panorama view of the mountains. There was also one of those helpful circles which informed us as to which mountains we were actually looking at.
It was a wee bit breezy up the top, I almost blew away, and that would have rather ruined the trip.
Anyway, we then headed back down the giant of a mountain (ok, hill) to meet Hannah, a uni friend of Charlie’s.

After discovering there wasn’t all that much to do in Perth, we headed off to see ​Hannah’s horse, Mikey, who was twenty years old today. Happy birthday, horse!
I don’t know much about horses, but he was grey and speckly and not too impressed at being brought out of the field into his stable. A hard choice that, bed or food?
Mikey stabled for the night, we then returned to Perth for dinner. Our first attempt was Kiso’s which, although it served vegan food, was fully booked – what do you expect walking in on a Saturday night without booking a table? It was a very fancy looking place, but the food seemed reasonably priced.

​Sue is a volunteer at the Zoo meaning we enjoyed a very informative personal tour, the quality of which rivals my history lessons (you can compare when I give my talk on Edinburgh Castle in a few days’ time.
The first animals we saw were a flock of pink pelicans which I would have enjoyed chasing, but I restrained myself, I think I would have fitted inside their beaks!
Our next stop involved more birds, the huge flightless rheas of the ratite family. There were three 8 week old chicks being raised by the male of the pair, as is the custom with this species. In general with birds, both parents participate in the rearing of their offspring compared to mammals were it is usually the female, or reptiles where their young are often left to fend entirely for themselves from the moment they are born. That seems somewhat harsh, but who am I to judge a different taxa? The chicks were learning predator avoidance/ confusion behaviour which seemed to involve a lot of zig-zag running. Well, I was confused.
More birds – I like this trip – we went to see the penguins next. As a cat, I was rather put off by their giant pond, but we watched with interest the Gentoo penguins raising their young. As penguin chicks are born without waterproof feathers, metal umbrellas had been put over the nests to keep them dry. There were also three leucistic penguins. This doesn’t mean they are albino, just paler than normal as they have a much lower content of melanin and other pigments in their bodies.
These flightless critters were interesting to watch as they had a habit of stealing stones from each others' nest to add to their own. Strangely enough, no one ever seemed to get into a fight over this, they took the theft of their property quite well actually.

​We also visited two other cats, the Sumatran tigers (very stripy, I approve) and the Asiatic lions, slightly smaller than their African cousins. We also learnt Sumatran tigers can jump vertically up to 13 feet, good thing the walls are high!

​We then came upon an escaped wildcat. Not really, it was stuffed, that bizarre and creepy Victorian pastime. No wonder the poor blighters are so rare. This stuffed cat was a donation to the zoo and formed part of an education display which included big cat skulls and a leopard pelt, seized by customs officials at Heathrow, the person smuggling it arrested and the skin donated to the zoo. This was a sad sight to see, one of my poor cousins, killed for their skin, the bullet wounds still visible in the neck, the claws still on the paws. This beautiful cat and the stuffed wildcat, both victims of the type of humans I will never understand.

​Zebra! I’ve been distracted… I like these creatures, they’re stripy like me and their field had a beautiful view of Edinburgh.
One of the last stops was the chimpanzees, a troop of 19. About half of the group had come from a lab testing facility a few years ago, but joined the original group well. There was also a three year old chimp, the group’s only offspring. The similarities to a young human child were striking, so I am told, children are not my area of expertise.
We also visited the squirrel monkeys and capuchins who participate in voluntary behaviour tests to determine their preferences and cognitive abilities including their ability to recognise an individual, track the location of a moving hidden object and select their preferred food. The monkeys were always free to leave the trials if they wanted, but the way I see it, why wouldn’t they participate when there was food on offer?
We tried the wildcats again, but to no avail. But then, loads of them! In the gift shop, a whole shelf of wildcat toys, maybe these are my closest cousins after all, not the flesh and blood wildcats.

​Greetings, humans! I have arrived in Edinburgh! Charlie and I flew from Stansted, an airport that has rather confused me as for some reason it costs £3.50 to drop someone off – is this some means to encourage people to use the free bus service? I quite like buses but I believe many people do not. Something to do with them always being late or smelly or cold…
Anyway, we arrived in the airport and headed straight to security. No hold luggage to drop off today and already checked in online, this is a revelation in air travel. I like this plan, jolly good I think. Security was an interesting experience, Charlie got beeped going through the metal detector and had to go through those full body scanner things. The bag I was in also got pulled off the conveyor belt. Oh no, were we in trouble for trying to smuggle a cat onto a plane? No, it was the liquids – shower gel, toothpaste and that squirty stuff that stops hay fever. These were all put into some kind of strange scanning device and then handed back. Odd.
We then walked through duty free, which seemed to sell only alcohol and perfume, to the point where the smell started to make me feel rather nauseous, one does have a sensitive nose. Finally we arrived in the food area – much better – and after some waiting, we set off for the gate.
The gate was so far away we were sent there by train, it was in a completely separate building. We were delayed boarding for no apparent reason, crammed into some small area between the showing of the boarding passes and being released onto the runway. Finally the doors opened and we were allowed to board the plane.
More waiting and then we were off, flying high in the sky. We spent a lot of time flying on top of some white fluffy material which I feel would make an excellent cat bed and then, oh horrors! My dreaded enemy water started falling from the sky! ​

A very long time (probably three minutes) later, we were in Edinburgh airport where no water was falling from the sky, which fortunately only seems to happen outdoors, but then after meeting Charlie’s aunt, Sue, we were back out in the Rain. I have decided to grant it capital letter status to emphasise the horror of it. We made it to the safety of the car and began the journey to Sue and Stuart’s house. Edinburgh seems like a nice place, pity about the Rain.
We spent the day indoors, wisely hiding from the wet stuff which was still pouring down, and met Boris the cat, he’s very friendly and then the humans went out for dinner. As it was still Raining very hard, I sensibly elected not to join them.

​The three humans drove to Henderson’s Vegan in Thistle Street. There are several Henderson’s in Edinburgh and whilst they are all vegetarian, this was the only one that was fully vegan.
I was informed that, for no identifiable reason, the traffic getting to dinner was very, very bad. However, the amount of time spent stationary afforded Charlie plenty of opportunity to take pictures. There were some wonderful old buildings, some parks and lots of cars.
They finally arrived at dinner (still Raining) and ordered starters. These were a carrot and cashew cream bruschetta for Sue and a sharing platter of sourdough, oat cakes, olive salad, hummus, bean pâté and something that seemed like a mix of antipasti and bean pâté between Charlie and Stuart. All was excellent.
The main event was vegan haggis all round, a Scottish delicacy made of soya (if you’re vegan, various, unnamed innards encased in a sheep stomach if you're not) and onions among other vegetable type things. This was served with kale, cashew cream cheese sauce and a pickled vegetable of undetermined species. Turns out it was turnip. Again, everyone was well pleased with the food.

​Despite being very full, the humans elected for pudding, one vanilla ice cream with fruit and two blueberry cheesecakes with a shortcake style base, served with three blueberries and a drizzle of chocolate sauce.
Absolutely stuffed, the humans waddled out onto the street, where it had stopped Raining… oh no, my mistake, still Raining.
There is a lot of Rain here, it is quite terrifying. I will venture out into this city if it ever stops Raining. The view from my window, I have been told is amazing, you can see all across the city and Castle to the Forth bridge and the river (perhaps not being able to see it is a good thing), however the Rain has rather restricted the view to the backs of the houses behind this one.
Tomorrow the plan is to visit Edinburgh Zoo and hopefully talk to some keepers. I want to meet my feline cousins, particularly the wildcats whose fearsome natures I feel I have much in common with.
Until then,
Chesh. 

​Greetings, humans! Ah, it’s good to be back, ready for another trip, once more getting my Charlie to type up my witty ramblings. If you're new to Tails of a Travelling Cat (where have you been? You've missed so much) you can find out more about me (I am truly wonderful) on the About Me (and My Humans) Page, and also in the Before We Begin post at the start of the Europe Edition. I'll wait for you to catch up if you need to, but be quick, I don't have all day.
Right, now if you're up to speed, or have been a good human and were already conversant on who I am through having read the Europe Edition when it was published, let me introduce this second trip.
We’re off to Scotland, Edinburgh to be precise, another capital city. This time it is just myself and Charlie embarking on this trip, however we are staying with Charlie’s aunt, Sue, and uncle, Stuart, so I suppose they will probably feature in this Edition.
I’m looking forward very much to this trip, it will be highly cat based and involve an aeroplane and some trains. I am a fan of this long distance travelling lark, although I would be a rather poor Travelling Cat if I wasn't now, wouldn’t I?
We will be based in Edinburgh, where we will visit Edinburgh Zoo and hopefully see their wildcats – my less stripy, and less pink, cousins. 
On this trip we will also visit the Highland Wildlife Park (it’s over two hours away, my longest journey by car, although compared to some of those European trains, not a problem, one hopes). Here, we will see many wondrous cats – I have been promised Pallas’ cats, lynxes, Amur tigers, snow leopards – and some other animals. If we’re lucky, we might even get to meet some important, high-up people involved in conservation of the beautiful, majestic, prowling, Critically Endangered Scottish wildcat. How few remain? We’ll find out in the next few days.
Anyway, it will not all be cat based (unfortunately), there’s also a trip planned over the mighty Forth Bridge to Perth, or perhaps Dundee, maybe here we will meet up with one of Charlie’s uni friends, maybe we won’t, oh, the suspense.  
We will also probably visit Edinburgh Castle like all good tourists and I’m sure some other historical delights. Those good people who have read the Europe Edition, will fondly remember my well informed and mostly accurate history lessons.
Well, that seems to sum up what’s going on as I know so far. I’m all packed and ready to go. And I get to try a new airport, Stansted, this time, exciting stuff.
Until then, folks,
Chesh.