North Petherton - 2012
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After living in Bishops Lydeard, Jill and I moved to historic North Petherton, near Bridgwater, which lies under the foothills of the Quantocks. It was in a field below the town that I saw not one but two big cats! This, incredibly, was my third sighting of these elusive creatures!
It was a beautiful winter's morning in 2012 and as I walked around the large field which lies below the town with my dog and headed towards a small copse in the corner, I saw a sight which stopped me in my tracks! There, about forty feet in front of us, two big cats ambled along the raised soil hedgerow bank ! The bank was open at this point enabling me to have a clear view of the two creatures! The first big cat was undoubtedly a black panther and closely following it was a puma! Neither animal looked at us but both just walked straight ahead before disappearing into a hollow in the copse!
It was a beautiful winter's morning in 2012 and as I walked around the large field which lies below the town with my dog and headed towards a small copse in the corner, I saw a sight which stopped me in my tracks! There, about forty feet in front of us, two big cats ambled along the raised soil hedgerow bank ! The bank was open at this point enabling me to have a clear view of the two creatures! The first big cat was undoubtedly a black panther and closely following it was a puma! Neither animal looked at us but both just walked straight ahead before disappearing into a hollow in the copse!
Immediately my dog ran towards them barking loudly and I knew I had to stop him without delay! I shouted at him at the top of my voice several times and as he reached the bank he stopped and ran back to me. There was no way that I was going to go looking for the cats in the hollow with him! I knew we had to leave the field straight away and we made our way across it and back up the hill. On the way home I told a few local people about my sighting and they were all shocked and amazed! One couple I met, who lived above the field, were particularly interested to hear the story, as their son worked for none other than DEFRA!
When we returned home I told Jill about our adventure by the copse and then made my way back to the field with my binoculars, camera and my sturdy stick! On the way, I called at a nearby bungalow to ask if the owners had ever seen big cats there. The lady who lived there with her husband was not surprised to hear my account of the sighting and told me that other local people had said that they had seen a big black cat in the area too!
As I walked down the hill towards the copse I surveyed the terrain and thought about the big cats, wondering where they were. It must be pointed out that the fields here are surrounded by thick, often hollow, hedges with deep ditches running alongside them, making perfect secret pathways for these most elusive of creatures. It would be possible for big cats to roam for miles in this terrain without being seen, except in the odd places where the hedges are thin and the banks exposed. The nearby Quantock hills, with their abundance of woods, make a superb wildlife habitat for all manner of animals, not least big cats!
As I approached the copse I saw a man walking his dog in the field and we started chatting. I told him of my sighting of the two big cats and he listened intently. Then he said " That explains why my dog was behaving in a strange manner this morning when we walked near the copse!" Incredibly, it turned out that this man, who was walking his girlfriend's dog in the field, was a former Royal Marine who was actually a member of the group which was searching for the 'Beast Of Exmoor' in the 1980's!
The next day my friend Sean, a college lecturer in engineering, drove over to see me and we walked down to the field with my dog to investigate the copse, hedgerow and hollow further.
Jill and I moved away from North Petherton a few days later (not because of the big cats!) but one day I may return to the area where I saw the big cats!
When we returned home I told Jill about our adventure by the copse and then made my way back to the field with my binoculars, camera and my sturdy stick! On the way, I called at a nearby bungalow to ask if the owners had ever seen big cats there. The lady who lived there with her husband was not surprised to hear my account of the sighting and told me that other local people had said that they had seen a big black cat in the area too!
As I walked down the hill towards the copse I surveyed the terrain and thought about the big cats, wondering where they were. It must be pointed out that the fields here are surrounded by thick, often hollow, hedges with deep ditches running alongside them, making perfect secret pathways for these most elusive of creatures. It would be possible for big cats to roam for miles in this terrain without being seen, except in the odd places where the hedges are thin and the banks exposed. The nearby Quantock hills, with their abundance of woods, make a superb wildlife habitat for all manner of animals, not least big cats!
As I approached the copse I saw a man walking his dog in the field and we started chatting. I told him of my sighting of the two big cats and he listened intently. Then he said " That explains why my dog was behaving in a strange manner this morning when we walked near the copse!" Incredibly, it turned out that this man, who was walking his girlfriend's dog in the field, was a former Royal Marine who was actually a member of the group which was searching for the 'Beast Of Exmoor' in the 1980's!
The next day my friend Sean, a college lecturer in engineering, drove over to see me and we walked down to the field with my dog to investigate the copse, hedgerow and hollow further.
Jill and I moved away from North Petherton a few days later (not because of the big cats!) but one day I may return to the area where I saw the big cats!
Sean looking at scratch marks at the big cats' entry point to the hollow
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The edge of the thick hedge
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A possible hiding place in the thick hedge
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