Big Cat Conversations

Dave our guest had two big cat encounters in East Hampshire in the 1990s. We also hear some panther and puma incidents reported to him through his fishing and his zookeeper networks. Dave also mentions rumours of canned hunting in the past as one of the origins of the large cats in Britain, and he describes some experiences overseas involving a captive lioness, a captive tiger, and escaped pumas. Words of the week: blending into nature 19 October 2025

Our first guest Miriam had a close-up sighting of a puma back in 1968 in Surrey, while on an archaeological dig. She explains how she and her mother watched in silence before in slunk off. The local police followed up and found footprints from which they took casts. Miriam was recruited as a podcast guest at the recent event, Depicting Britain’s Beasts, when she visited the Nature in Art specialist wildlife gallery. Poems from podcast listeners were published in a document for that event, and the document is now available as a pdf file on the BCC website here… https://bigcatconversations.com/poetry/ Our second guest Gary Ridley is a long-term investigator in the county and runs the Surrey Panther Watch website. He takes us though some recent big incidents, including some credible footage which was scaled to suggest a black leopard size cat. Gary is keen to achieve more public awareness on the presence of big cats, and he feels that the risks to pet cats and dogs should be faced up to, so people know to take precautions if a big cat is believed to be around. Word of the week: fecundity 24 September 2025

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. 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

Cat Fight is the new novel from author Kit Conway which centres around big cat encounters in Kent, published in the UK in May and the US in June 2025. We speak to Kit about how Big Cat Conversations helped shape her ideas for the big cat aspects of the plot. The book has already been optioned as a future TV screenplay, and Kit discusses how she weaved big cat sightings into a novel about the developing frictions across a close community in south-east England. It is a rollercoaster of a story which explores people’s switch to wild behaviour on different levels. Our second guest Gary describes some big cat incidents in Surrey, just 50 miles west of where Cat Fight is set. He himself has twice observed a black panther in a neighbouring agricultural field, viewed from the same spot in his parents’ house. Believed by Gary to be a black leopard on each occasion, the sightings were 20 years apart in 2003 and 2023. Word of the week: rosette Cat Fight book availability in UK: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463613/cat-fight-by-conway-kit/9780857506597 Cat Fight book availability in North America: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Cat-Fight/Kit-Conway/9781668066348 Copies of Cat Fight are available for UK and for North America listeners to win by emailing ‘word of the week’ suggestions – details in the podcast. Kit Conway, Cat Fight author’s website: https://www.kitconway.com/ 1st June 2025

John explores the wild forests and farmland of his local Scottish borders area. It’s a sparsely populated region where black panthers and lynx are quietly discussed by some of the locals. John takes us through various lynx encounters, including two of his own, and describes his three experiences with large black cats – one seen nearby from a slow moving train, and one unnervingly close at night. John starts the episode by explaining how his military background helps his observation and tracking skills. He also discusses lynx reintroduction proposals which have been considered for his part of Britain. John is a musician and with his wife & friends created his own outro track for this edition… Eyes Burning Bright. Words of the week: orienting response 9 May 2025

John met a “black panther” during his evening dog walks four times in 1996 in Staffordshire. On the first occasion he was confronted directly by the cat at close range. As the predator was poised, there seemed no easy way out. John explains his thoughts and the subliminal messages he received at that moment, as he reached in his pocket and unlatched his Swiss army knife… ‘Big Cat Mystery’ outro track courtesy of Lancashire band DRIVE. Words of the Week: beauty in the beast 17 April 2025

Bonus feature - British wolverines? Our first guest Darren was asked to despatch a troublesome fox in south Wales in 1998. In the snowy conditions he actually saw a puma though his gun sights – he re-lives the high emotions on the winter hillside as bright green eyeshine stared back. Rick and Darren also consider the prospects of a big cat being trapped, and they discuss an event in 2011, when the police and the Home Office verified a plaster cast as from a puma-like big cat. For our second guest we return to Exmoor Zoo, meeting owner Danny Reynolds. He briefs us on the new female black leopard, Bagheera. She is a lively three year old, who enjoys playful stalking of the visitors and keepers. Exmoor Zoo also hosts two wolverines, last known in Britain 8,000 years ago, or has this podcast found that they are back somehow? We discuss some footage which might hold the clues, with some extracted stills on the Big Cat Conversations website. Danny and Rick discuss the traits of wolverines, a big type of mustelid, both in the wild and at the zoo. Words of the week: talon & Gulo gulo 26 March 2025

Andrea is a podcast listener in Victoria, Australia. She didn’t expect to experience big cats on her land. But she explains how events and sightings have indicated she has visiting pumas, which seem to predate kangaroos, wallabies and rabbits. She looks after two pure dingoes, which have reacted to calls and movements of what appear to be a nearby big cat. Andrea discusses life with the dingoes, and her heightened awareness of new hidden predators in the local bushland. In the final section, British and SA tracker Mark Graves returns to discuss key issues which have cropped up in recent episodes, including the ‘clawed’ carcass, alarm calls from birds when predators are around, and why big cats’ fur can change in colder conditions. Rick describes two recent black panther-leopard reports from witnesses, and Mark explains how big cats drag their larger prey items. Words of the week: ‘upside down country’ & piloerection 3 March 2025

We return to Cumbria for latest news of the mother and cub black leopards, being experienced by Liz on nearby land to her property. In autumn and winter sightings Liz has noticed longer fur develop on the mother, as well as alarm calls from magpies harassing the cats. Liz and Rick discuss the challenges of getting evidence from this ongoing case. UPDATE: Between recording and then releasing this interview with Liz, she reports that her husband has now had two evening encounters with the mother. Our second guest, Neil, describes a situation as a 14 year old, when he and his dad stumbled upon what appeared to be black panther cubs being recovered from the wild in Devon in an official covert operation… Words of the week: winter coat 8 February 2025

Two retired police officers report their big cat encounters and incidents, including black leopards & lynx. We conclude the episode with comments on the January 2025 lynx release & capture saga from Paul Macdonald of Scottish Big Cat Research. Andrew our first guest from County Durham recounts his encounter with what he believes was a black leopard, when walking his dog in 2003. Through his police activity he then learnt about similar big black cat reports nearby, and his interest in the subject grew. Nick from Kent nearly hit a big black cat in his vehicle when driving on police duty in the back lanes of Kent, in 1994. Nick raced out of the car to pursue the animal and soon realised the folly of his actions. A colleague then had a nearby sighting, which they felt may have been the same cat, while another contact shot a lynx in error, as it was flushed from woodland when he was out shooting foxes. 16 January 2025 Word of the week: truncheon

Our end-of-year extended episode features Mandy from Worcestershire and Jon from neighbouring Herefordshire. Mandy explains the events which led to her setting-up a big cats Facebook group in Worcestershire, as a hotline for reports and discussion. Her own sighting was a close-up view of a black leopard type of cat, and instantly drew her to the subject. Jon watched a puma slink through his garden one night in 2003, close to the house he was renovating. His initial shock and concern turned to respect for big cats, as he and his wife experienced three different large cats in and around their remote garden until they moved in 2018. Jon kept a ‘big cat diary’ throughout that time – he takes us through the events for this episode. Word of the week: estrangement 12 December 2024

Tommy had two sightings of black panthers in the north of Exmoor as a teenager in the 90s. His first viewing was of a mother guiding a small cub, which made a lasting impression on him. Tommy recounts a local vicar’s sighting of a big black cat at the time, and he explains how local teenagers related to the Exmoor Beast legend. Later in his army career, Tommy heard fellow soldiers admitting to seeing pumas on Ministry of Defence land in Northumberland. Word of the week: Inquisitive 17 November 2024

Liz describes several encounters with a black leopard visiting the farmyard where she and her husband feed the farm cats. She has been watched and advanced on by the large cat and is now fully alert to its potential presence. On one occasion Liz noticed a small panther like cat dart out of cover to catch up with the big cat, and realised it was a cub rushing to its mother. Liz reports how the farm cats change behaviour due to the bigger cats’ presence, and she explains how she and her husband adapt their life, living in anticipation of their new stealthy neighbours. Words of the week: teddy bear 25 October 2024

Craig our guest returns after episode 72 when he re-lived his Exmoor big cat encounters in the 1980s. Now based in Herefordshire, Craig explains the big cat reports and potential activity occurring in his own village, right where he walks his dogs. He has been followed by an animal with large piercing eyeshine which alarmed his dogs, and he has recently found two fresh deer carcasses, one freshly devoured, and the other was still warm, had a severed windpipe, and showed claw marks raked down the muzzle and throat. Craig also had a close view of a puma crossing his path in the Black Mountains, near Hay on Wye, in 2023. His photos and videos of these incidents, showing his immediate reactions, can be viewed on the podcast website… https://bigcatconversations.com/refs-links/ Word of the week: kleptoparasite 4 October 2024

Charles reflects on his two encounters with a black panther or leopard, 21 years apart, both while caravanning and trekking in Cumbria. For the first incident Charles was in touching distance of the big cat as he entered his caravan awning and discovered it there – Charles recounts the moments he found himself closed in with a panther beside him… Word of the week: catstycam 19 November 2022

Mat hid in the toilets after seeing a panther on a dawn walk in a country park near Nottingham, while Tom saw what he believes was a puma seizing a fox at dusk in a country park at Leicester – Mat and Tom explain their close encounters and both describe the response of their accompanying dog. Words of the week: Occam’s razor 11 March 2021

John takes us through several big cat sightings around Epping Forest, an ancient forest now busy with visitors on the north edge of Greater London, and we also hear from Mike who collided with a black panther driving on the A13 near the M25 in Essex. Words of the week: wood pasture 29 January 2021