A family favourite spends a year in the wild at Queenswood Country Park.

The staff at Queenswood are all familiar with the handsome ginger cat who has been visiting the site for a couple of months and he often kept the Engagement Team company as they prepared for children’s activity sessions in the woodland yard. When the occasional sightings turned into regular visits, Reserve Officer, Paul Ratcliffe, checked the web to see if any cats were reported missing in the area. One had been lost locally in December 2016. It seemed unlikely to be the cat in question given the amount of time that had passed but the Queenswood cat’s distinctive big paws and sticking-out tongue certainly matched the photo! Paul commented: “I had seen a ginger cat some months ago but he seemed fine. I’d assumed he was just visiting from a neighbouring property. In recent weeks, however he was a regular visitor and becoming more friendly.”

It turned out that ‘Oscar’ had been visiting Phil and Jan Collins in Dinmore with mum Vicki and her son Oliver for Christmas but had gone missing on Christmas Day. The family spent all Christmas Day searching for him and put up posters and posted on Facebook but to no avail. They sadly had to leave to return to their home in Wiltshire without him after the holiday.

Viki and Oliver were thrilled to be reunited with Oscar after such a long time as they had almost lost hope of seeing him again. He certainly doesn’t seem any the worse for wear for his big adventure!