Big Cat Conversations

Charlie our guest recounts 6 months of his life at the age of 9 back in 1973-74. Around his house in Ayrshire his family lived alongside a female big black cat, seen active in fields and woods and at one stage she was lactating.  Charlie regularly encountered the cat during spells when he escaped the ongoing stress at home. He describes its consistent behaviours, including its calls and its hunting. It took rabbits from his snares and he observed it resting in sun traps.  This episode tells a remarkable story of a large black cat, most likely a female leopard, out in the wild before the 1976 Dangerous Wild Animals Act. Charlie considers why the cat tolerated him in particular, as well as his family members.  Since recording the episode, Charlie has recalled one other memorable account of the big cat, which was not described in the conversation with Rick. Charlie explains it here... "One thing I didn't mention was the night it walked on the roof of my largest den it was fully enclosed with a door and a lift-up window and all closed up.  It walked across the roof making the acknowledgement snorting snuffle noise. It stayed up there sitting or lying for a while. I then heard the soft pads on the leaves as she jumped down into the wood..." In terms of the origins of the cat, Charlie adds this…  “I think it was likely a released one, possibly when she was pregnant as it wasn't scared of people. Wary yes but not scared.  It would happily eat rabbits etc with human scent on, so she was possibly used to eating meat handled by humans?” Words of the week:   gypsy warnings   1 September 2025

Our first guest Malcolm was an arch sceptic on big cats being wild in Britain. Then one night driving home in 2011 he encountered a big black panther on the lane outside his property in Herefordshire. It rushed off, doing a long leap through a high gap in the hedge. Malcolm then asked around and found that other people in the area had also seen a panther around the same time. Malcolm is coincidentally about 3 miles away from Craig, a podcast guest from episodes 72 and 116. Craig joins us again for the second half, updating us on events in the area where he found the clawed carcass and set out trail cams. Craig has a recent trail cam photo to describe, captured in mid July 2025 - see copies on BCC website Refs & Links. Then the following week, at 7pm in the woods, he experienced a full-on hiss directed at him – a google search confirmed his view that it came from a big cat, most likely a puma.  Craig and Rick discuss the reports of both black and brown big cats, described over many years in this corner of Herefordshire and seemingly keeping to themselves… Word of the week:   GISS (General Impression of Shape & Size) 9 August 2025

Secrets of the hoax – real & imagined beasts Our first guest Simon Lea had two close encounters with a large black panther at his farmholding in Oxfordshire. He later created the life-size metal panther that was positioned in Charlbury in a large garden close to the station. The ‘panther’ was spotted by train passengers and sometimes got reported as a real big cat, as previously discussed on ep 93 of the podcast. We hear the full story behind the Charlbury Panther from Simon. Simon has just made a replica Charlbury Panther for the coming event, Depicting Britain’s Beasts – the art of British big cats, at Nature in Art gallery, Gloucestershire, 12-22 August, 2025.  https://natureinart.org.uk/event/depicting-britains-beasts-the-art-of-british-big-cats/?instance_id=977#:~:text=With%20evidence%20from%20DNA%20and,been%20moved%20to%20illustrate%20them. Our second guest Andy Council is a Bristol based mural painter and graffiti artist. He discusses three of his British black panther illustrations which will be at the Nature in Art event in August. He explains how he came to use British big cats amongst his public artwork. One of Andy’s paintings is the Five Valleys Panther, based on big cat sightings in the Stroud area. Andy and Rick discuss sightings they have heard about in people’s gardens in that area.   Andy is interested in awareness raising through his art. He explains the importance of showing panthers, pumas and lynx in a British setting, and he describes the challenges of  depicting a big cat in a modern street-art style.       Word of the week:   tagging 16 July 2025  

Our first guest Hugh Williams recounts his close encounter with a big cat on a Worcestershire hillside. He also runs the Mysteries of Mercia website which explores quirks of history and folklore in the midlands and Mercia.  As well as discussing his panther incident, Hugh mentions other big cat sightings he’s heard of and even a dogman description he’s received. He also considers the treatment of big cats in folklore, he touches on the black dog phenomenon, and he and Rick consider the black panthers reported in eastern Canada where Hugh is currently based.     Our second guest Graham describes his recent incidents involving a large cat in County Durham. He and his dog were growled at from close quarters one winter evening, then months later, just a week before this podcast recording, they came close to a black panther at dusk.  Graham explains how he’s been coming to terms with the reality of big cats in the first few days after the experience. Both Hugh and Graham mention a feeling of ‘joining a club’ after their cat encounters.   Word of the week:   liminal 22 June 2025