I did do cloning and since you point it out I now see the artifact from this. I thought my selection had spared the fur ,but apparently not. Its strange how when you get involved with a photo you overlook obvious things. There was a little bit of out of focus yellow foliage that I tried to get rid of since it formed a band.
Thanks for noticing this and looking at the image.
Great expression captured Chas, but agree with need for a slightly tigher crop and cleaning up that cloned spot. What a face to work with though...top stuff!