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After seeing some creature bound away across a field yesterday when out biking near Lennox Forest, I did a bit of research and found a report from a few years ago of a Lion spotted on Miekle Bin in the Campsies, not too far away. The witness was ex Mountain Rescue so knew his creatures. Link above.

So has anyone seen anything unusual while out on the trails? Obviously Big Cat/animal related, but other anecdotes welcome.

Rode round a corner in the South Chilterns and there was a bald eagle sitting on a branch.

But it turned out it was part of a falconry event.

Was it like the Essex lion (as verified by the experts at Colchester Zoo) that turned out to be a cat (as verifed by anyone with eyes who’d ever seen a cat) 🙂

I saw a Wild Boar while riding in Estonia, just glad it was not a Brown Bear as I would of messed myself.

When we had snow a few weeks back I found tracks that were way too big to be a fox, more like a large dog in size.
Very remote location, no “owner” footprints in sight. It made me wonder what could have made them. Either a stray foxhound or some sort of larger wild cat/dog.

Er Wild Boar are definitely NOT to be messed with, especially fully grown males. They can be very very aggressive so you were lucky you didn’t know as you still well may have messed yourself.

Saw some little boar type things in the Forest of Dean. Didn’t expect that.

When we had snow a few weeks back I found tracks that were way too big to be a fox, more like a large dog in size.
Very remote location, no “owner” footprints in sight. It made me wonder what could have made them. Either a stray foxhound or some sort of larger wild cat/dog.

A fox then the snow melted a bit?

Several anecdotal sightings of a large black cat in East Lothian over several years, to which I paid little attention. That was until a couple of years ago when someone that I know was out running & came across what he described as a Puma standing on top of an adjacent wall. He had stopped to stretch off & only became aware of how close the cat was when he stood up. He’s described to me in detail how the animal walked along the top of this wall away from him & unaware of or ignoring his presence. For him the deciding factor that made him run off in the direction he had come was when the animals tail became visible. He was in absolutely no doubt about what he saw & reported it to the local police who told him to keep quiet. The police alerted the local school but there have been no further sightings.

The bloke’s not a mate but I’ve got no reason to disbelieve him. We discussed the sighting again at new year. It still gives him the jitters.

He’s behind you……

There’s a large green parrot living wild near Llanberis slate mines.

Saw it once last year and doubted my eyesight.
Saw it sat in a tree and heard it screeching whist walking up to the main splitting shed from Bus Stop quarry at Deiniolen on Saturday. Big thing, made a hell of a racket.

No one believes me. 🙁

I lived on a sheep Farm on Exmoor through the 1980’s when the ‘Beast’ was at his height of fame. We had several sheep that were killed and partially eaten – and I was pretty scared at the time. I was around 15 years old but never actually saw anything.

I believe big cats are out there but probably not breeding 🙁

Saw a bunch of pigs on the edge of dartmoor – assume they were escaped rather than wild.

And a wallaby in the Peak district in the snow!

There’s big cat sightings all the time in the woods around the valleys of Stroud. There’s even a resident crackpot ‘big cat expert’ called Frank Tunbridge that the press always wheel out. Last year a deer was found dead and the finger was instantly pointed at a big cat for some reason. Even went off for DNA analysis but no feline DNA was discovered

Jury is out as far as I’m concerned…

I saw a panther-like feline slinking along a pavement opposite the house where I grew up, but there’s loads of exotic wild animals around there, parakeets and everything.
That’s Surrey for you.

Saw a big cat whilst out on a night ride once, it padded across the trail a few metres in front of me. Absolutely bricked it and sprinted the next mile or so to the main road*

Fairly convinced it was a big black cat – probably a panther. The curved tail and angle of the paws gave it away.
Lots of reports of them in the paper around that time, including blurry picture from CCTV on front page of local paper.
Cirencester area, so probably same cat as Stroud sightings above

* frying pan to fire – as I pulled up at the main road, my lights shone into the eyes of a passing car driver. He was a dogger (few car parks here are famous for it), and thought a lycra clad, sweaty bloke apparently flashing him down meant his luck was in…

reported it to the local police who told him to keep quiet.

It’s a conspiracy I tells ya !

There’s a large green parrot living wild near Llanberis slate mines.

Saw it once last year and doubted my eyesight.
Saw it sat in a tree and heard it screeching whist walking up to the main splitting shed from Bus Stop quarry at Deiniolen on Saturday. Big thing, made a hell of a racket.

No one believes me.

I see flocks of parakeets every days in London! They are pretty cool but some people hate them

i saw a goldfish swimming in a canal in nottingham….have also seen a big cat on the road down into wensleydale from kettlewell. its length was the same as the grass verge on which it was stood, and when i got up to where it had been, ( it went through the hedge as i approached) the verge had two tractor tracks on it, so at least 6 foot wide. thankfully i was in the car at the time

Possibly not big cat related, but I saw this a couple of weeks ago on my local trails!

It’s what I can only describe as a zombie kangaroo skeleton monster.

You were lucky, that skeleton has clearly been stripped clean by piranha’s. They could have still been hiding close by waiting to pounce on you.

My late grandmother swore she once saw a Lynx in rural Somerset.

She’d seen plenty of big cats in her time (albeit in Asia & Africa, rather than the Quantocks), so I was inclined to believe her.

Beefheart’s pic is a deer maybe? Not a predator anyway, the eyes point sideways not forwards.

I think if big cats were around someone would have found a dead one. I’m also convinced most sighting are either little cats or lurcher type dogs.

Beefheart’s pic is a deer maybe?

I’m pretty sure it’s a sheep (that’s wool next to it, not snow).

The thing is, it wasn’t there the day before, so it was killed and licked clean overnight. 😯

They have been found on the roads.

They live a long time and roam large areas, so not unreasonable to assume that if they die they hide themselves in a hole somewhere and rot away, or scavengers spread the bones about.

We might only be talking about 2 or 3 animals throughout this whole story.

EDIT: from here http://www.ukbigcats.co.uk/otherevidence.asp

Over the years there have been cats killed :-

1989 – In Shropshire a Jungle Cat was fatally injured in a road crash

1988 – In Devon a Leopard Cat was shot

1988 – In Hampshire a Swamp Cat was killed crossing a road

1987 – On the Isle of Wight a Leopard Cat was shot

Found a ripped off deer leg one time. Not sure a hunter would do that, or a fox. Velociraptor maybe!

Seen evidence of and heard something growl loudly at us (3 of us all heard it) over Cannock

When was the dangerous animals act brought in?

It was rumoured that some big cats were released into the wild because of that. But it was a long time ago, so even if the rumours were true, unlikely any would still be kicking around today.

Once whilst approaching the bush I saw a huge hairy pussy peering out of a gaping hole, still sends shivers down my spine 😯

Houns – Member
Seen evidence of and heard something growl loudly at us (3 of us all heard it) over Cannock

probably Scruff………

Saw a big lack cat, Labrador-sized or bigger, on the road near the Cheviots about fifteen years ago. Long tail in an S-shaped curve, deffo not a Lab, moved away smoothly.

I saw a bloke walking on The Cheviot last year with his family, a couple of terriers and a Harris Hawk. It was very large and beautiful as it silently glided past back to his keeper. It was thick clag too so it just appeared as a shadow in the distant cloud, then went past us in 2-3 seconds. Seemed much longer though. It was a surreal stunning experience. There must a fair few strange folk who think that is normal behaviour and keep animals of this ilk

In December was out at dusk on the binn Burntisland found a newly dead deer with a leg missing on the track,I passed by an hour later when it was dark saw dog sized animal scurry away,keeked my breeks and cycled away at speed.thinking about it it was probably a big fox have seen a few big ones in the area,but then you never know.

I don’t like night riding, but chanced a bit of a twilight ride home to make the most of the evening last night..

Just as I’d switched my lights on and started the climb through the ancient and spooky forest on the edge of the moor I got a puncture..
Not too bad, I changed the tube and got going again without too much screaming and crying.. only to be confronted a mile or so down the trail by a cow sized ant!!

Admittedly, I knew that it could only possibly be a big boulder with some bits of fallen branch, but I did have to look twice.. (well, maybe three times.. or four)

be careful out there

I should have looked for possible pawprints, but it never entered my head

Great witness….

More zoo experts
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-13491268

Er Wild Boar are definitely NOT to be messed with, especially fully grown males. They can be very very aggressive so you were lucky you didn’t know as you still well may have messed yourself.

One was seen in Chippenham recently, very close to the main A420 Bristol Road, and the park where the town football club and others are, and close to a large school campus. I think most people shrugged it off, until a bloke hit it with his car!
Caused a lot of damage and the airbag broke his nose. Spoilt his day, somewhat.

I saw a bloke walking on The Cheviot last year with his family, a couple of terriers and a Harris Hawk. It was very large and beautiful as it silently glided past back to his keeper. It was thick clag too so it just appeared as a shadow in the distant cloud, then went past us in 2-3 seconds. Seemed much longer though. It was a surreal stunning experience. There must a fair few strange folk who think that is normal behaviour and keep animals of this ilk

Why? There are many falconers around, it’s traditional in this country, and quite a few are pest controllers. The Harris Hawk is a pretty docile and easy to train and fly bird, so is most frequently flown.
There’s a local bloke who flies Harris Hawks, Sakers, Gyr Falcons, Peregrine, and crosses of the various types.

One of the buildings I work on has a resident Harris Hawk – it is absolutely HUGE!!
It has a penchance for decapitating the birds it takes and storing the carcasses on top of the lift platform……. all lined up OCD…..

Me and a mate were riding along the north downs way near trosley kent one Sunday a couple of years ago in daylight, and saw what we think was a black puma. It crossed the trail in front of us, was twice the size of a full grown domestic cat, had an s shaped tail, and large paws, you know heavy looking big cat paws like you see on err big cats! Never forgot it, riding there for years now and not seen anything since! Other mates take the mickey, but “I was there man!”

There was big cat spotted in the Inchriach area by Glen Feshie in 2010. I am aware of this when in the woods, alone, in the dark…

I have spent a lot of time in the Campsies over the years and never seen anything – not that I’d be expecting to see anything anyway…however, over the years I have seen/heard a few things that have made me think.

Personally I reckon there are some large cats out there but I also think they make sure they aren’t spotted…they are too clever not to get seen – they tend to only be seen by their prey once they are upon them after all!

First ‘thing’ – 1995-ish, riding home from Cambusbarron towards Falkirk, we passed Swanswater Fishery and on the backroad to Auchenbowie campsite…the field before it had what appeared to be a very large animal that was moving like a cat in the middle of the field – didn’t see anything else and it looked big…we didn’t think much of it as we were heading away from it at a reasonable rate but once we got back to Falkirk, 2 of the guys started talking about it and thought it could have been a large cat of some sort. I thought it looked more like a large dog but I hadn’t had such a good glimpse of it (for once I was in front setting the pace so was waiting for them to ride past me!).

Second ‘thing’ – 1997, climbing up the East side of BEn Venue on the bike…the path had recently been ‘upgraded’…still a fair hike up but we came a cross a freshly cleaned hip bone in the middle of the trail – wasn’t completely clean but at least 99% clean…bone had been snapped and it was still looking rather damp. Moved along another 50 yards or so and spotted another ‘fresh’ looking bone…got to just where the tree lined finished and about to cross on to the open land and we heard some real heavy sort of growling/grunting/breathing…minced ourselves and high tailed it back down…the noise seemed to be close to us for the first minute or so of the descent and it sounded rather aggressive. No idea what it was but the bones/remains and the noise made us think twice about having a look.

Third ‘thing’ – 2002-ish – Kinlochard…between the old Youth Hostel and the Forest Hills hotel there is a switchback climb up the hill…you climb over the deer fence and up you go – round the first corner and I was hit with a real pungent aroma…turned the second corner and I saw, in the trees, carcasses – about 3 and they seemed ‘fresh’ – looked like deer but had been almost completely stripped…I instantly turned round and rode elsewhere!

I suspect there are perfectly reasonable answers to these and happy to admit it was my mind playing games with me…but it has left me believing there are big cats out there and they are just too clever to be seen.