Big Cat Conversations

BCC EP:134 The Panthers of Avalon

Our first guest Sam describes his late brother Jake’s sighting of a black panther when he was fishing in south Devon. Then Sam explains his own view of a black leopard watching cattle and their calves on the Somerset levels near Glastonbury.  Sam and Rick then discuss their inputs to a recent short film on big cat sightings in Somerset – see the podcast website for a link to the film,  bigcatconversations.com/refs-links/ Our second guest Sonia follows-up the two big cat encounters from Hampshire on episode 132. Sonia had never heard of any black panther reports in the same area and year as her close-up incident. But when she heard Dave’s account on that episode, it appeared to be the same big black cat at around the same time. Sonia mentions that a private travelling menagerie was based in Petersfield from the 1930s. Our link on the website, at the above link, includes a recording about the menagerie from Petersfield Shine Radio.  Thanks to Mark Jones in New South Wales for our closing music. Word of the Week:   vindicated 11 December 2025

BCC EP:133 Watching, stalking & hiding - big cats at home in Britain

Lee our first guest describes his close observation of a puma stalking fallow deer in Buckinghamshire. He watched the circling deer behaviour as they responded as a protective group to the advancing  predator, and he describes the fear he felt at finding himself so close to the scene. John our second guest returns after episode 125, with more big cat stories from the Scottish Borders, including lynx in Kielder Forest and night-time encounters with staring and stalking animals that were potential big cats. John also gives his perspective on living with predators in the area.  John has caught up with the podcasts as a  recently joined listener, and gives his overview of the trends he spots in all the content. John and Rick also discuss the role of art and music in communicating British big cats, and John has written and performed another outro song for the podcast. This new one is ‘Stumbling Blind’, about a mother and cub – lyrics are displayed on the BCC website under ep 133.  Word of the week:   interpretation 11 November 2025

BCC EP:132 Cats breaking out – tales from Hampshire & across the globe

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

BCC EP:131 Surrey hills & heathlands – perennial pumas & panthers

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

BCC EP:130 The Lactating Leopard - bonding with a black shadow

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