cats and railway lines

cats using railway lines either used or disused is well documented.they are quick and easy thoroughfares between hunting grounds and lying up places.they are well drained,mostly clear and the banks can offer plenty of food like rabbits and suchlike.also a cat can move from one area to another without being seen in the surrounding area as they are often lined with trees and bushes.used railway lines offer also hassle free laying up cover as noone goes there nor are any pets for fear of electricution,so there,s little chance of disturbance.ideal cat habitat includes inpenetrable woods or scrub like gorse and thorn connected with thick,wide leftalone hedges affording them cover to ambush prey.dusk and dawn are the most likely times to be seen although most sightings tend to be between 10am and 5pm.this is when people are most active which would account for this.it could be that a lot of these daytime seen ones are either disturbed from their lairs or young ones unused to the world at large(autumn usually sees a huge rise in sightings)it would appear that a cat would have a daytime lair sheltered from the seasonal weather(sun in summer,wind,rain and snow in the winter)but that which affords a good choice of escape exits.it can then move off at dusk to hunting areas after it,s had a drink.it will stay in this area for a while,maybe 2 to 3 weeks and leave before the local game gets too wise to them(educated as they say)it seems that rabbit holding places where the rabbits don,t come out till well after dark have been well "educated "by some sort of dusk type predator and so would be all the harder to catch.foxes,with their very large ears are quite capable of hunting more than baby rabbits by sound alone as i,ve heard on dark nights myself.although able to hunt at night most cats(possibly ruddercat excepted)would need some kind of moon to see by and it,s no coincidence that the moonless nights of the month see the most dusk and dawn activity......