I'm now 28, but when I was 16, I saw a large black panther in the fens north of Cambridge, between Willingham and Rampton.

I was on the back of a 50cc motorbike and we passed it as it was standing on the grass verge of the road. It was looking at us.

At first I thought it was a big black dog, but then realised, as we got closer that it was feline, and had a big head like a panther.

As we were only doing 30 mph, I started to worry that it may catch up with us and pull me off the back of the motorbike.

I kept looking behind me. I had heard several stories about the 'Fenland Tiger' and couldn't believe it when I saw it. Three other people I know have seen it.

Also when I was 22, I was working on the Channel Tunnel rail link, which involved marking out the future rail track in the middle of the Kent countryside.

There were wild goats there that started disappearing. I found the chewed remains of two of the goats and heard that a security guard patroling the site had seen a black panther in front of his jeep in the middle of the night.

He put a spot light on it and it just stood there looking at him.

There are definately big cats out there in the UK countryside.
Martin Pickering, Cambridge

We had just started walking in the field with my dad and dog in the field on the friday just gone when I turned and saw a black object in the row of trees by the stream.

Me and my dad both agreed it was moving and that it was much bigger than a normal cat.

So Ii walked over and it sat there and watched me, but it walked off into the trees when I got closer. And by the time I had got there and looked, there was no sign of it.

But it walked just the same as a cat, but it was much much bigger and pure black.
Aimee Hockliffe

I live in Long Stratton, andwhile working for Social Services, approx two and a half years ago, I was coming back into LONG STRATTON form HEMPNAL along CHURCH ROAD, STRATTON ST MICHAEL, just passed the thatched cottage.

& I looked across the field & I saw a big black animal running the opposite way (away from the A140).

At first I thought of these "big cats", but told myself not to be so stupid as no one would believe me, but I have since heard of other people seeing it in this area also.
Dianne Mead

Last winter me and my mum saw a black cat the size of a labrador cross the road in front of us and disappear into the hedge.

We were driving along in the evening near Triangular Lodge which is near the village of Rushton in Northamptonshire.
Matthew Bates (age 10 years)

One night between April - June 2004, I was walking my Jack Russell dog that night, and after walking through a park, I've nipped into All Saint's church ground in Leighton Buzzard, Beds.

Just viewing the building at night when I saw a large grey or maybe very light brown animal - it jumped down from a wall and it stood still staring at me for a couple of minute and then calmly walked away into other direction and into the darkness.

I can described it looks just like a Puma or a Mountain Lion.

I have flagged down a passing Police Car and told them what was happening and their response was 'I'll have a look later!', then drove off.

They must be thinking I have escaped from the mental hospital!

I have fair knowledge about animals and I know I'm not confusing it with any kind of domestic animals or any documented wild animals in this country of UK.
Tim Powderly

Yep they are definitely out there! I regularly visit the countryside around the Luton/South Beds/North Herts area.

One evening two friends and I were out taking in a beautiful high summer evening walk around sunset on the last day of June this year.
We parked up on the north of the Tithe Farm estate in Houghton Regis and proceeded north towards Howes Down.

We eventually reached the old Salt Way which is now a green lane and headed towards the Bounds way after as the sun had now set - we headed back towards the car.

About one field past Grove Farm in an area that was previously farmed, but for the last couple of years has been left to its own devises and in long grass, one of my friends pointed to a point about 100 yards to the west of where we were standing.

My God! what the hell is that! I uttered. In the fading light we could easily make out the distinct shape of a very large dark cat.

It was clearly much larger than the largest domestic moggy, for a moment it stared at us.

Then it bounded away at high speed over the long grass towards a distant hedgerow.

I had my camara in my bag, but by the time I got to it and turned it on, it had vanished into the hedgerow, in any case it was probably too dark by this time.

All three of us were convinced that what we saw was genuinely out of the ordinary!

With the increase in the rabbit population and the leaving of areas of fields to return to nature, it doesn't suprise me that these Large Cats (Pumas, Leopards, whatever!) can exist quite comfortably in our countryside today!

I think in the main, they avoid people!
S. Teague

I have just watched your program on bigcats and would like to let you know about a sighting I had from early summer.

The sighting was at approximately midday on Sunday 25th June 2006 in my village of Ravensden which is in North Bedfordshire.

The road was a single carriageway road with large amounts of field area either side.

One field is occupied by cattle, the other is open fields with little farming. I was on my way to work on my motorbike when it crossed my path on the road.

At best, I was no further than 12 feet away, but the sound of my engine made it turn and run back the way it came before I could get a really good look.

What I did see, was the following:

A cat about the size of a small Labrador.
Small, pointy ears.
Similar colourings to the lynx on your website.
Black, blended stripe markings, and not spots.

From this description you may already be thinking that all I saw was a cat, but it was just too big to be that.

Is it possible that I’ve seen a lynx??
Dan Matcham

About three years ago I was travelling home to Clacton on Sea from Ipswich at around 23.30 with my two teenage sons. I was driving along a country lane between Tendring and Weeley.

As we were going up a small hill, a dark shape appeared in the right side of my headlights and as we got closer both my son and myself saw this pair of eyes looking down into the car window.

I kept driving, but we all looked at each other and said, "That was some big cat".

We never told anyone, but there has been several reports in the local press reporting sightings of a big black cat in the Clacton area.
P Wolton.

My bedroom window looks out on to a small park (St. Clements) in Norwich, Norfolk.

On the morning of 2nd January, 2006 at about 11 am, I looked out of my window and saw a large black cat about 30 yds away on the other side of our garden fence.

As I watched, it looked up and started to lope across the park and into some bushes on the far side.

I was able to look at it through binoculars which I keep on my windowsill because I have often watched foxes in the park before.

I am absolutely certain that I saw a black panther that morning. I was close enough to see it in good detail, the shape of its head, its body in profile, the curl of its tail and its loping gait couldn't be anything but a wild cat.

I reported my sighting to the Police and was told that there had been other sightings reported, but not that morning and not in that location before.

The park is surrounded by houses and I was concerned that the animal might attack a child or pet if the panther had jumped the fence into one of the gardens.
Sandra Booth

My name is Jennifer Wolff and on Saturday 16th September just gone, I was cycling along a footpath at Orton Mere heading towards the City Centre at approximately 8.15/20am in the morning when ahead of me about 50 yards, I saw what I can only describe was a black panther on the footpath looking into the bushes.

I stopped my bike and observed it for a couple of seconds but when it noticed me it leapt with height into the undergrowth.

The BIG cat that I saw looked as follows:

3-4ft in Length
2-3ft in Height
2ft approx length of tail
Completely black shiny smooth fur

When it had disappeared into the undergrowth, I cycled at speed past it and glanced as I went by to see its eyes looking at me.

They were large and yellow looking at me. I didn't stop my bike again until I was a safe distance past it.

It appeared on the footpath again after I was a safe distance away. Turned and looked at me again. But I continued on my journey to work.

That evening I rang Peterborough Police Station and reported what I had seen because this footpath is used by families cycling, walking and people exercising their dogs.

On Sunday 17th (yesterday) I used the footpath again to go to work, but yesterday I went past the spot where I saw the big cat around 9am.

Although I never saw it yesterday I did hear a growling coming from the bushes but didn't stop to find out where it was coming from.
Jennifer Wolff

I live at Ellington near Huntingdon and saw a big cat in full daylight approximately 25 -30 metres away on short grass.

I watched the cat for 3-4 minutes as it stalked something in longer grass; this is the second sighting as I briefly saw
it before approximately 100 metres from the second sighting.

My last sighting was in June 2006 and I reported it to Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust, they thought that from my description that it probably was a Puma.
John

My views on the big cat sightings - I find it very hard to believe that cats in this day and age can escape being caught on camera, as if it's possible on the plains of Africa, surely it's possible in the uk.
gaza

We found this paw print on our stable door in Brackenfield, Derbyshire.

Some in village say they have seen large animals that look like big cats.
Anon

I've been following a Melanistic Leopard since I first saw it in Jan 03. It now resides in a forest where I spend some night times with my infrared gear to get evidence.

I was the East Anglian rep. for one of the big cat clubs until I fell out with the chairman. But I still have people calling me to go out to look at pug marks or show me where they've seen it.
David Galvan, Wickham Markt, Suffolk

After watching your program on monday night concerning the big cat sightings, I would like to report a sighting of my own.

I live in Wendling, a small rural village near East Dereham, Norfolk, and last year my dad called us outside - and from our back garden we look out on an open field.

About a 1/4 of a mile away, walking along a small stream in the field, we saw a large black animal, walking on 4 legs, with a large head and tail. We continued to watch it walk until we could see it no more. We then kept an eye out for it but did not see it again, so we considered it to be our imagination.

However early in August ths year on a sunny afternoon, I was looking out of my bedroom window across the field and further back I could see the same black figure. I then got my binoculars out of my cuboard and ran outside to get a better view. It was a dark black cat, smaller then the size of a Red Deer but a lot bigger then a domestic cat-i continued to watch it until it went into the shade of a tree where it layed down on its side, unfortunatly the photo i got of it with my digital camera was poor as the resolution is not good enough to pick it out.

However i have not seen it since then, and I was wondering if it has hunting patterns so that we would only see it at certain cycles?
Mitchell Catling