Big Cat Roundup 8

Reports of big cats received by BCIB over the last week

England

Cornwall
Pensilva area – on 13th April 2007 a woman and her family saw a big black cat, half-hidden in long grass, standing alert in a field nearby. It quickly flinched and ran off. (BCIB sighting form)

Kent
Hildenborough – a local couple were driving home on Thursday 28th October when they saw a big black cat walking down the side of the road towards them. On seeing them it hesitated and then jumped through the hedge into a field. (BCIB sighting form)

Hildenborough – a man driving to work at 5.50 am saw a big black cat crossing the narrow lane into woodland in front of his car.
Read more at This is Courier.co.uk

Swanley – in 1997 a local man who lived in a secluded area near woodland was persistently visited by a large animal that disturbed his two cats and other livestock. One night his chickens were attacked and ‘a black shadow’ ran past him just inches away. Some time later a noise from the kitchen alerted him and he found his larger cat cowering against the wall while “the front cover of your book” was looking through the very large cat-flap. [Merrily Harpur’s book ‘Mystery Big Cats’ has a close-up of a black leopard on the cover.]

“To this day I am certain that there is at least one very large black cat roaming the Kent countryside.”

(Written report sent to Merrily Harpur)

Leicestershire
Leicester – around two weeks ago a local couple were walking their dogs at Aylstone Meadows when a big cat crossed the footpath some yards in front of them, looked briefly at them and continued on its way. It was larger than their border collie. (Verbal report)

Shropshire
Billingsley – on Sunday 21st October, a local couple observed a big black cat, 4-5 feet long, crossing a ploughed field. As they got closer they could see it was stalking two pheasants. Both they and the car ahead of them stopped, and so 3 adults and a child all were able to see the cat 100 metres away, and confirm with each other that they were watching a black leopard. (BCIB sighting form)
Read more at the Bridgnorth Journal

Stockton-on-Tees
Stillington – a man was fishing behind the church in the village when sitting the top of the hill he saw a large black cat, which he judged to be larger than the greyhound he had seen on the hill at the same spot previously. (Verbal report)

Yorkshire
Leppington – earlier this month a local woman saw a black cat the size of a small Labrador. She observed it for 30 seconds or so before it jumped through a hedge.

“The cat I saw was shy and in no way aggressive.”

Read more at Gazette & Herald.


Scotland

Argyll & Bute
Inverary – Six or seven years ago a man going home after fishing observed a big cat crossing Pech Brae. (BCIB sighting form)

Glasgow
Lynn Park Golf course – in April 2005 a golfer playing a shot noticed a big black panther-sized cat roaming the bin at the next tee-off. He pointed it out to his partner and both agreed they were looking at a big cat. His partner set off towards the cat which moved off into dense woodland. (BCIB sighting form)

CatStats at a glance
Panther type (black) - 7
'Big cat' - 1

Big Cat Roundup 7

Reports of sightings received by BCIB over the last week

England

Devon
Ipplepen – a large black cat has been sighted in this area. (Phone report)

Dorset
Henstridge – a local woman saw and photographed a large black cat, ‘identical in size to a two year old leopard’, in a field behind her house.
Read more at the Western Gazette

Gloucestershire
Nailsworth area – at a talk by two BCIB members, witnesses reported several instances of sightings of big cats, both panther type and puma type. (Verbal report)

Forest of Dean, Parkend – ‘about three months ago’ a motorist braked to avoid a deer running across the road in front of her car. As she braked she saw a large animal with a scruffy mane pursuing the deer. (Verbal report)

Sudeley Estate – a lynx was sighted here 3 months ago (Verbal report).

Surrey
Dorking/Reigate area – a sighting from eight years ago, by a veterinary surgeon driving at night along a country lane. Just after rounding a corner, he saw an Alsatian-sized dark-coloured cat emerge from the hedge and cross the road in front of him. (Email report)

Great Bookham – the same witness’s ex-wife and daughter were walking in the area 2 years ago and while passing an area of dense undergrowth heard a very loud purring noise which was far too loud to be made by an ordinary domestic cat. They hurried away as quickly as possible. (Email report)

Yorkshire
East Heslerton – at dusk on Sunday 14th October, a local farmer found four five-inch wide paw-prints in his crop of winter barley. The photograph in the news report shows the large prints.
Read more at the Gazette & Herald


Scotland

Ayrshire
Galston area – on 25th September at 11.30 pm, a man out shooting with his dog happened upon a large black leopard-like cat at close quarters (25 yards), near enough to be able to notice its tongue and bottom fangs in its half-open mouth. After cat and man had stared at each other for some 45 seconds, the man backed off, carefully, in considerable fear. Once he judged he was at a safe distance, he turned and ran. (Phone report)

Caithness – on 8th May this year a farmer found one of his lambs with its head ripped off, and a cut on its body that was clean, almost ‘surgical’. He believes the damage was done by an animal he was not familiar with.

Fife
Nine sightings of an unusually large black cat have been reported to Fife police since July. The most recent is the sighting included in last week’s Roundup, outside Homebase in Glenrothes. Sightings in the area go back at least two years, with most being during the harvest period.
Read more at The Courier

Renfrewshire
Kilbarchan-Howwood area – the farmer who lost sheep last week (see Roundup 6) has lost another. A jet-black cat, 5ft long, 2 and a half feet high, with a 4ft tail was last seen in the area a few days ago. (Verbal report)

Wales

Carmarthenshire
Nantgaredig - at 1pm on 11th October, a motorist had stopped his car on the B4300, when he noticed an unusually large cat, mid-brown with black face, ears, and longish black tail, on the bank by the side of the road. It looked at him for 20 seconds, then retreated through nearby rushes and across a field. (BCIB sightings form)

CatStats at a glance
Panther type (black) - 15
Puma type (brown) - 3
Lynx type - 1
Prints - 1
Attacks - 2
Sounds - 1

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Would you like to learn more about Britain’s big cats, find out about reports in your area, or even help to collect and investigate reports?
Find out more at Big Cats in Britain.

Big Cat Roundup 6

Sightings reported to BCIB over the last week

England

Cambridgeshire
Huntingdon – a couple, driving on the Kings Ripton road at dusk, saw a black cat the size of a St Bernard dog in a field about 300 yards away. They stopped and watched for eight minutes as it first stalked something, then sat in the middle of the field with its catch in its mouth.

Cheshire
Holmes Chapel area, 1 mile before J18 southbound on the M6, on 31.09.07 at 7am, a lorry driver saw a black cat the size of a large dog. It was next to large tree in a field, apparently drinking.

Derbyshire
Belper – a Mansfield couple out for a walk saw a black cat on an old track at the Chevin. They judged the cat to be smaller than a Labrador dog, but still a lot bigger than a domestic cat.
Read more at Belpernews.co.uk

Dorset
Dorchester – on Friday morning 12.10.07 at 8.05 a.m., a local woman travelling to Weymouth by bus saw a big cat in the field just after the football stadium. It was standing in the field about 200 metres from the road, and was pure black with a very long tail, a little larger than an Alsatian dog.

“I had about 4-5 seconds to look at it and it was beautiful!”

Essex
Colchester – a man walking his dog saw a large black cat near the north station.

Gloucestershire
Dymock – a couple walking a dog were startled to see a large black animal following the hedgerow on the far side of the field about 200 yards away. It saw them and began moving towards them, crouching like a cat. After initial disbelief when they realised they were being approached by a big cat, they turned and ran.
Read more at This is Gloucestershire

Hertfordshire
Kings Langley – on Sunday morning at around 8.00, a farmer saw a large dark brown animal run into a crop.

Kings Langley – also on Sunday morning, at around 8.30, a local couple travelling on the Watford road saw a large black cat, bigger than a lynx, near J20 with the A41 road to Tring.
Read more at Harrow Times

Leicestershire
Melton Mowbray area – while driving the road between Garthorpe and Waltham on the Wolds at 8.15 on 9.10.07, a man saw something cross the road about 80 yards ahead of his car.

“I could only describe it as ‘cat like’, dark and extremely fast!”

Knossington on Leicestershire/Rutland border – on Tuesday night 9.10.07, a local woman heard an animal in the field by her house. The sounds were very similar to the cries of a puma. She had previously heard them in January 2006, after which she found that a sheep had been killed.

Somerset
Frome – in April of this year a man saw a lynx-like animal in a field at the bottom of Egford Hill.
Read more at This is Somerset


Scotland

Fife
Glenrothes – on 2nd October, the latest of many sightings of a large black cat in the area, took place outside Homebase where a retired couple watched a cat “about the size of a collie dog” pounce and disappear into some bushes.
Read more at BBC online
Listen to an interview with the witnesses at BBC online

CatStats at a glance

Panther type (black) - 10
Lynx type - 1
Cries - 1

BCIB investigates...

The Leicestershire, Fleckney sighting (Roundup 2)

"Got some feedback from one of the Gamekeeper's friends. He has seen a largish black cat with a white tip to the tail, and has confirmed it to be a very large feral. When the bikers reported seeing the cat enter the wood next to which we filmed, one of them mentioned the cat’s tail having a white tip." Rob Cave

The Powys, Llanfyllin sighting (Roundup 3)

"The lady who contacted the group with her sighting told me that since I was there last and heard the growl, she too has heard it growling in the same wood.

I went for a walk into the forest and I found some scat, along the main path. The scat was left either side of a small log, the length of the scat was about 4 and a half inches. You can see piece of bone even before I opened it up, inside the scat it was compacted with hair.

In the size, shape and the smell and what the scat is made up of, I think this is from a big cat.

I have attached photos, it must be the angle I took them but it does not look as long in the photos. I have also had the film developed today from the remote cameras I left there, loads of sheep, fox, squirrel, birds but no big cat." Chris Johnston

Big Cat Roundup 5

Sightings reported to BCIB over the last week.

England
Cambridgeshire
Gamlingay – an ‘unusually large cat’, jet-black, 45cm tall at shoulder, seen and photographed. 29.9.07

Devon
Heathfield – A large black panther-like cat was caught in the headlights of a car as it crossed the road at 5 a.m. Allegedly the cat appears in the area every 10 to 12 weeks.

Lynton (Valley of Rocks) – the remains of an Exmoor pony with one leg missing, plus other animal bones, have been found recently, leading to speculation that a big cat is responsible.
Read more at North Devon Journal

Gloucestershire.
Down Ampney area – a farmer and his wife saw a lynx-like cat from a kitchen window at 9 a.m., week beginning 17.9.07

Nature in Art, Wallsworth Hall – a couple walking their dog on the approach road saw a big black cat run across the road.

Kent
Minster -

"This was a big, black cat, the size of a dog, observed for more than an hour, which is pretty impressive as most sightings are brief, as it sunned itself in a field off Westcliff Drive, Minster. The cat was licking its paws, and when on the move its thick tail was held close to the ground." Neil Arnold of Kent Big Cat Research.

Read more at Sheerness Times Guardian

Leicestershire
Thorpe Satchville – a man working at the village hall saw a three-foot long black cat at 10.30 am 1.10.07.

Surrey
Report of a dog being attacked and several sightings. No details as yet.

Wiltshire
Horningsham – two local people driving towards Warminster at 6 p.m. observed a charcoal-grey (not quite black) cat with very long tail, walking up a steeply sloping field with an uncharacteristically confident gait. They judged the cat to be at least twice the size of a domestic. 29.9.07

Malmesbury – a local family watched a big black cat for 10 minutes as it prowled around the field next to the primary school’s playing field.

"It was black and a lot bigger than a fox. I thought straight away - that's a cat, a big cat! I ran upstairs to get the binoculars. It was definitely a cat. It was half as big again as our dog, and she's a big dog."

Western Daily Press, October 4, 2007, p.8.


Yorkshire (West)
Batley – a report dating back to last March. At 11.30 one night a woman driving home saw a very large black cat, around 5 feet in length, run across the road and clear a five-foot wall with ease.


Scotland
Dumfries & Galloway
Stranraer – driving past woods on the way to Sandhead at noon, an aunt and neice saw a large black cat jump up into one of the trees. 29.9.07

Highland
Arisaig area – a visitor driving along the A830 between Moss ofKeppoch and Kinloid saw a huge cat the size of a Labrador cross the road, leap the fence and run off.

'It was definitely a cat of some sort', he said, 'but bigger than anycat I've ever seen, and definitely not a wildcat.'

Read more at West Word

North Lanarkshire
Bonkle area – at 9.15 a.m a man driving slowly rounded a corner and

“something dark seemed to explode off the road and over the fence into the trees and bushes.”

He stopped and watched a very large cat move through woodland and into a field.

Renfrewshire
Kilbarchan – a local farmer found three blackface sheep attacked overnight with huge teeth marks, the bite spanning nine inches, on their necks. 30.9.08.
Read more at Paisley Daily Express


CatStats at a Glance
Panther type (black) – 9
Lynx type – 1
Grey – 1
Colour undefined - 1
Attacks – 3

September's CatStats at a Glance

Sightings - 39 in total
Panther type (black) – 33
Puma type (fawn) - 2
Lynx type - 0
Tiger type - 1
‘Ginger’ – 1
Colour undefined - 1
Eyes only - 1


Other signs - 4 in total
Attack (clawmarks) - 1 (later identified as barbed wire scratches)
Sounds – 3
Pawprints - 1