Strange Behaviour!

I am new here & I will try to make this as short as I can. A stray cat 'adopted' my partner when he moved into his new place, 2 years ago. He made several enquiries, no one seemed to know it & another neighbour had been putting food out. At first he couldn't get anywhere near her {we think it's a she!!} he made her a little garden 'shed' & put food out. Over the last couple of years she has progressed to sleeping in a proper shed, coming inside, as far as the windowsill, to eat & allowing us to stroke her - until she's had enough. She sometimes comes in through the patio & settles down on the sofa, but usually runs off if we go in there. Occasionally we think she must have been in a fight as she's had the odd wound on her body, usually around the head/neck areas. We have not been able to pick her up & so she hasn't been vaccinated or wormed, we don't want her to lose the trust she has put in us. The last couple of weeks she's been behaving very strangely, not coming in to eat much, apparently not sleeping in the shed & just goes missing during the day. She seems to look ok, is washing as usual & we have put food outside for her - which she eats. We think she was someone's pet once & must obviously have been neutered, but we are worried about her behaviour. Any suggestions would be appreciated

Her behaviour is completely feral and normal for that type of cat. If you have been unable to get close to her, it would be hard to tell if she has been spayed or not. It could be a late Tom might be after her to mate and she is hiding from him, although it is quite late in the kitty season and would be unusual, though not heard of.

If you could trap her and get her inside, this would be best. They make humane traps just for that purpose. You can usually get them to rent at feed stores, vets offices or animal shelters. Good luck and thank you for caring about her.