Big Cat Conversations
Episodes
BCC EP:134 The Panthers of Avalon
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Our first guest Ben describes his late brother Jake’s sighting of a black panther when he was fishing in south Devon. Then Ben explains his own view...
BCC EP:133 Watching, stalking & hiding - big cats at home in Britain
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Lee our first guest describes his close observation of a puma stalking fallow deer in Buckinghamshire. He watched the circling deer behaviour as they ...
BCC EP:132 Cats breaking out – tales from Hampshire & across the globe
19 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 f...
BCC EP:131 Surrey hills & heathlands – perennial pumas & panthers
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 w...
BCC EP:130 The Lactating Leopard - bonding with a black shadow
31 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
BCC EP:129 Hidden in Herefordshire - the leaping leopard & the hissing puma
09 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
BCC EP:128 Secrets of the hoax – real & imagined beasts
16 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Secrets of the hoax – real & imagined beastsOur first guest Simon Lea had two close encounters with a large black panther at his farmholding in ...
BCC EP:127 Lurking at the margins – big cats of Mercia & Durham
21 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 w...
BCC EP:126 Kent Cat Fight, Surrey double take
01 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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....
BCC EP:125 Scottish borderlands – unspoken leopards & lynx
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
BCC EP:124 Confronting a midlands panther - a five metre face-off
17 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
BCC EP:123 A shot in the dark – green eyes through the snow
26 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
BCC EP:122 The puma paradox – Australia’s roo slayers
03 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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...
BCC EP:121 Cubs – from Cumbria to Devon…
08 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
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 wint...
BCC EP:120 British lynx & leopards – more police memoirs
16 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Two retired police officers report their big cat encounters and incidents, including black leopards & lynx. We conclude the episode with comments ...
BCC EP:119 Over the hedge – big cats of Hereford & Worcestershire
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our end-of-year extended episode features Mandy from Worcestershire and Jon from neighbouring Herefordshire.Mandy explains the events which led to her...
BCC EP:118 Mother & cub on the moors – son of the Exmoor Beast
17 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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, wh...
BCC EP:117 The leopard, the cub & the farmyard strays – in the company of cats
25 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 adv...
BCC EP:116 The clawed carcass - grappling with the evidence?
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 bi...
BCC EP:115 The leopard trail to Skye
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our first guest Graham recounts a close encounter with a large black cat on the Isle of Skye during one of his fishing trips. We discuss how a cat lik...
BCC EP:114 Wye Valley pumas – the rescued & the wild
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this Summer edition we discuss pumas encountered in the wild on the England & Wales border in the Wye Valley, but we also visit a special sanct...
BCC EP:113 Daybreak with the Cheshire leopards
27 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Steve our guest trains his working gun dog, a springer spaniel every morning at dawn. We hear of four occasions when he’s encountered a large black ...
BCC EP:112 The policeman, the prints & the calling leopard
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our first guest Richard recounts a sudden episode of big cat reports from his time as a local police officer in Wiltshire. One of the cases involved a...
BCC EP:111 Cat at the campsite, panther at the portaloo
08 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We hear from Andy and from Gail, the different witnesses mentioned by Nick on his farm in episode 109. Andy and Gail speak about their own various big...
BCC EP:110 Panthera Cumbria - DNA developments
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this Cumbria update we discuss new DNA evidence with Sharon Larkin-Snowden following her input to episode 101. In October 2023 Sharon found a fres...
BCC EP:109 The changing farm - new woods & new predators
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nick runs a farm in the English midlands which is now transforming to wildlife friendly woods and meadows. Amongst the farm’s wildlife are sightin...
BCC EP:108 Dusk in the park – kids & the curious panther
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Eliza and two of her Cubs group friends came close to a black panther “with ears like a teddy bear” in their local Country Park in Spring 2023. ...
BCC EP:107 Fishing fright – the lakeside leopard warning
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Wayne is an angler in Essex. He describes 3 close encounters with big cats at fishing lakes. On one occasion he met with a leopard warning him off jus...
BCC EP:106 Forest echoes – Argyll’s big cat calls
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Janet is based in a remote corner of Argyll. She was unaware of the area’s long history of big cat reports until events kicked off close to her hous...
BCC EP:105 Top corner cats – tracking the Caithness leopards
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We hear from Paul, an investigator near John O’Groats in north-east Scotland. He re-tells several big cat sighting reports from recent years, and ...
BCC EP:104 Sherwood & Shropshire – glimpses in the Greenwood
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Adam’s Grandfather’s once had a big cat sighting in Sherwood Forest and now, decades later, Adam has just experienced a large black cat in the sam...
BCC EP:103 The spectre at the stables – big cats bothering horses
10 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We hear Sue’s experience after 10 years’ worth of big cat sightings and incidents around her stables in Essex.Her daughter and sons have had close...
BCC EP:102 Fight or flight? Cumbria’s cornered cat
19 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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...
BCC EP:101 Lake District leopards
30 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We catch up with Cumbrian investigator Sharon Larkin at the end of the Westmorland Show where Rick and Sharon were meeting witnesses and visitors to t...
BCC EP:100 Where the wild things are
19 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For our centenary show we met with 25 contacts in a Herefordshire pub, to talk big cats, sample the local cider, and eat celebration panther cakes. W...
BCC EP:99 The dumping grounds – exploring the rogue wildlife
29 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Phebe has been following-up big cat reports in different places for 30 years. She’s been trusted with local information on big cat incidents, and ...
BCC EP:98 Derbyshire dales – hidden homes of the big cats
07 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Gareth is a reporter for local papers in Derbyshire and joins us as another journalist guest on the podcast, following Tristan in episode 94. Gareth ...
BCC EP:97 Crossing paths with a Glastonbury panther
17 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the first half we hear from Jayne – she caught sight of a black panther with several of her jogging friends one morning this year in Somerset. Ot...
BCC EP:96 Gamekeeper big cat diaries
26 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
George is a retired gamekeeper in Herefordshire. He recounts his sighting of a local black panther, and many years before, a puma in a forest near Bod...
BCC EP:95 Living with leopards - Africa & Britain compared
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Former South African farmer & wilderness guide Mark Graves briefs us on living with leopards in South Africa, where he has guided Kruger National ...
BCC EP:94 West Country big cats – behind the headlines
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Tristan is senior reporter at the Bristol Post newspaper where big cat stories are rare. In contrast, he routinely heard of people’s big cat inciden...
BCC EP:93 From Oxford to Exmoor - panthers in the pastures
25 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Steve our guest has spent half a lifetime investigating big cat reports in southern England – he takes us through key events in Oxfordshire in recen...
BCC EP:92 The Outcasts - Beauty in the hidden beasts
06 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alex our guest has had several big cat encounters in South West England, one of which involved a black panther creeping up behind him. He reflects on ...
BCC EP:91 Scotland’s big cats – from theory to reality
12 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A panther and cubs next to a fishing tent, gamekeepers’ attitudes to big cats, a large cat carcass by the A9, admissions of lynx releases, and recen...
BCC EP:90 Tails from the Stroud valleys
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Andy and Claire explain why they are committed to tracking and learning about big cats in the Stroud area of Gloucestershire – we hear about their f...
BCC EP:89 The predator’s stare - when time stood still
08 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Louise describes three different large cat encounters in Scotland, including meeting a lynx in her local woodland in Angus. As it noticed her, she fel...
BCC EP:88 Awakening the Snow Panther
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Lewis describes being confronted by a black panther in the Chilterns area back in 2006, on the edge of the Prime Minister’s Chequers estate. Lewis w...
BCC EP:87 Ireland’s shocked stalker
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We hear from Bernard, an experienced stalker in the south of Ireland. He watched two adult black panthers resting in a field one evening in October 20...
BCC EP:86 Cougar close encounters – from Canada to Devon
22 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Rob explains his boyhood interest in the Exmoor Beast and roaming local woods for signs of big cats. Now living in British Canada, Rob encounters diff...
BCC EP:85 The policemen, the dog & the panthers - Warwickshire big cats recalled
03 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Bob received big cat reports in the 1990s during his career with Warwickshire police – it became more real on duty one night when he saw a black pan...
BCC EP:84 The wall-walker – filming a foraging panther
13 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Don saw a black panther or leopard in Derbyshire in 1989 at a time when local farmers and police were reporting sightings of a big black cat in the De...
BCC EP:83 Big cat nature ramble – Cotswold hide outs
28 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We join investigator Paul Ramsden for a visit to two big cat sighting spots in Gloucestershire. We look out along the edge of the Cotswold hills and t...
BCC EP:82 A face-off at dusk – confronting a west country leopard
14 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Clare met a black leopard watching her from a ditch in a Somerset lane back in 1993. Her family’s dogs and horses had been spooked at the time, sens...
BCC EP:81 Welsh big cat tour – north to south
28 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Darren Millar the Welsh Parliament Member for Clwyd West believes the Welsh Government should be researching big cats – we hear from Darren at the D...
BCC EP:80 Kent’s large carnivores – a sleepy village life
08 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Charlie watched a lynx sunning itself at the edge of his village in Kent, then two years later he had a close encounter with a puma on the other side ...
BCC EP:79 Secret South Wales panthers
19 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kayleigh our first guest was driving when she and her dog both reacted to a large black panther in front of the car near forestry land in south west W...
BCC EP:78 Big cats amongst the treasure
04 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Chris is a metal detectorist in North Wiltshire – he has had 3 big cat encounters including a puma descending a tree and warning him. We hear from a...
BCC EP:77 Too close for comfort?
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Our first guest Martin describes seeing a black panther move towards his son who was cycling in front of him and unaware of the animal. In terms of pu...
BCC EP:76 Panthera Celtica, Cougar Caledonia
05 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Carole from Aberdeenshire was feeding farm feral cats in the 1990s when a sleek black panther turned up. In the following weeks she had four sightings...
BCC EP:75 View from the train – the peripheral panther
22 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Mark our first guest watched a large black cat on his train journey in Cheshire, while Billy, our second guest, got a good view of a black panther fro...
BCC EP:74 Wild Sussex – panthers, pumas and mutant cats?
01 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Charlie Bones is a long-term investigator covering East and West Sussex – he guides us through big cat reports from this area of South East England,...
BCC EP:73 Dark secrets of the nature reserve
17 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jonathan is ex-special forces, retired from the police, and an expedition leader who has encountered large predators across different continents. In t...
BCC EP:72 Exmoor Beast – the untold stories
03 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Craig encountered a black panther on Exmoor just before the main 1980s reports had begun in the area. He saw it when lamping foxes and later disturbed...
BCC EP:71 Nature’s deer cull
20 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Amanda watched a black panther rush into position, then pursue a deer in Somerset in December 2021. She describes filming the final moments of the cha...
BCC EP:70 Leopard rosettes & human goosebumps
07 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Leopard specialist Sanjay Gubbi describes his work tracking, monitoring and camera-trapping leopards in India, and helping people live alongside these...
BCC EP:69 Dartmoor military big cat watch, & France panthers
18 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Our first guest Rich explains his thermal camera view of a big cat during his military training on Dartmoor. Our second guests Gareth and Ray discuss ...
BCC EP:68 The panther, the huskies and the wolf moon
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Jane and Ade are based at a chicken farm in Nottinghamshire – a black panther arrived on the scene in December 2021, witnessed several times so far,...
BCC EP:67 Scotland, Somerset & Norfolk – 2021 investigators’ roundup
17 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In part one David McEwan briefs us on key sightings from south Scotland in 2021, in part two Frank Tunbridge offers highlights from the 2021 big cat r...
BCC EP:66 The goblin universe of big cat sightings
01 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Our guests Annie Brazier and Shelly Coles discuss recent big cat encounters in Norfolk and in Ireland, as well as a shot cat from 2019 in Herefordshir...
BCC EP:65 Suffolk marshes – a wild goose-chase
11 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Frazier watched a big black cat hunt for geese in marshland at the Suffolk coast in November 2021 – he describes the spectacle of the autumn arrival...
BCC EP:64 Panthère noir – the French big cat mystery
27 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In the first of two episodes featuring big cat reports of France, Michael describes watching a black panther creeping through summer pasture at the ed...
BCC EP:63 Schoolboys & the patrolling puma
12 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Frances explains what happened when she noticed a puma following 3 schoolboys in southern Lanarkshire, Scotland. She then cautiously asked around her ...
BCC EP:62 The Wirral’s liminal leopards
22 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Black panthers, assumed to be black leopards, have been reported in the Wirral in Cheshire for over 20 years – our 2 guests describe some of these p...
BCC EP:61 The body of Bannockburn – big questions from a cat carcass
08 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Paul MacDonald describes the discovery and lab testing of an apparently large cat’s carcass found near Bannockburn in 2020, and then discusses how t...
BCC EP:60 Celtic-fringe cat & the panther of the peat bog
24 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Author Nick Albert wrote about sensing and then seeing a black panther near his family’s West of Ireland home in his series of books Fresh Eggs and ...
BCC EP:59 Panther chat in the pub – making sense of British big cats
10 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Three guests chat through their big cat sightings at a Herefordshire pub – Dave D watched a panther jump a gate back in 1996, Sam saw a panther on t...
BCC EP:58 The dawn panther - window shopping in Stroud
28 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Tom re-lives his close encounter with a black leopard like cat near Stroud town centre in 2015, and his sighting of a similar looking cat which stoppe...
BCC EP:57 Wexford’s wandering panther – the beast at the bottom of the garden
13 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
On 1st August near Wexford, Ireland, Lar filmed a large black animal wandering past his house in the neighbouring field – still raw with emotion spe...
BCC EP:56 Panthers east & panthers west
01 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mark a Suffolk taxi driver explains his close up sighting of a black panther one evening, and how he now gets reports from customers about the topic, ...
BCC EP:55 Shropshire stakeout – big cats and nature’s night world
17 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
James guides us through the forest environment at night in deepest Shropshire, keeping watch for the eye shine, movement and vibes of a big cat…Word...
BCC EP:54 Awakening the Pleistocene predators - a deep history of big cats in Britain
03 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Zoologist Darren Naish explores the traits of larger cats in Britain and Europe from the Pleistocene times, and considers lessons for rewilding and th...
BCC EP:53 Chance encounters - while deer stalking, dog walking & wild camping…
19 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our three guests have each witnessed big cats north of London in and around Hertfordshire and Essex – Matt encountered a black leopard on land where...
BCC EP:52 Black in the night – filming Kenya’s panther
05 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
British wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas explains his techniques for filming wild animals up close, including his specially designed Beetlecam...
BCC EP:51 Island hideout – the fugitive panther
23 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest Anne ran a stud farm on Anglesey where a black panther frequented her land for over a decade - she had detailed sightings of the cat stalkin...
BCC EP:50 Lions, leopards and a lost tribe – South African secrets
08 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In our extended 50th edition, Gareth Patterson from South Africa offers highlights from his experience living with lions, tracking elusive elephants i...
BCC EP:49 Cornish beasts along the creeks
23 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Andy roams the creeks of mid Cornwall and fishes local lakes – in two of his three sightings he had close calls with a panther at night, and now he ...
BCC EP:48 Emerald eyes from the Emerald Isle
09 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Janet noticed the neon eyes and the shadow spots on a black leopard, highlighted in the sun, as it leapt away from her and her dogs in County Leitrim,...
BCC EP:47 Kent's catnip panther
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We hear from Rod who saw a big cat in 1986 during his former police work in Kent, but it wasn’t until Clare Balding’s testimony on BBC’s Ramblin...
BCC EP:46 Hidden in the park - East Midlands mysteries
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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 fo...
BCC EP:45 Beasts from the East – Suffolk’s shadow cats
26 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Salusbury selects some highlights from Suffolk big cat reports, then John a landowner describes his three different sightings of a puma, a black ...
BCC EP:44 Creatures of Kintyre – the New Wild
12 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Cameron Nicoll explains the ideas that shaped his film Rare Creatures, on the big cat sightings of the Kintyre peninsula, and local resident George de...
BCC EP:43 Cockney Cats – epic tales from Epping & Essex
29 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
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, an...
BCC EP:42 Mystery in the Green Belt – Hertfordshire’s big cats
15 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Laura describes her three black panther encounters in north Hertfordshire, each of which seemed a different cat, while Lian our second guest runs the ...
BCC EP:41 Edge of town safari – the predator and its prey
01 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ann, her son and their dogs disturbed a stalking panther on their evening walk in November 2020 – it was poised for attack as they watched events un...
BCC EP:40 Shadowed on the tracks – after dark with the Peak panther
19 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
One night in the Derbyshire Peak District, Billy our guest had some unexpected company as he did his rail-line inspection.Billy also explains why big ...
BCC EP:39 Meet the neighbour – cat from the quarry
05 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Annie re-lives several close encounters with a panther in Somerset in a nearby quarry in 1993 – a reminder that big cats were experienced many years...
BCC EP:38 Prowling panthers & pumas – Summer sightings 2020
21 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tim was amazed to see a black panther in fields neighbouring his house in Berkshire in 2020 – he’d previously seen one on Salisbury Plain in 2004,...
BCC EP:37 Eurasian lynx in Britain - back to the future
07 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
David Hetherington, author of The Lynx and Us, re-lives the moment he was watched by a lynx in Switzerland and explains how the vivid wildlife and lyn...
BCC EP:36 Lynx in Britain – a hidden recovery?
30 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Maria in Cornwall saw a lynx leap away in her woodland, while Rob in Gloucestershire drove past a lynx walking along a roadside ditch - both our guest...
BCC EP:35 Beasts of the moors and tors
17 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Jones explains the challenge of filming large cats in Devon and Cornwall with trail cameras – one of his photos is discussed in the coming docu...