Big Cat Conversations

The People's Podcast on Big Cat encounters in Britain. In each episode Rick Minter discusses big cat sightings with different witnesses, finding out what they saw or sensed, how they felt, and how these cases fit a bigger picture.

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Episodes

BCC EP:07 Middle England Pantherwatch

An in-depth interview with Nigel Spencer reveals how he and his late father supported police follow-up work on big cat reports in Leicestershire & Rutland. Nigel recounts his own sighting of a puma in Essex and summarises key big cat incidents from Leicestershire including from farms, quarries, stables and gardens. Our second guest Emma from Leicestershire explains how she is now extra-cautious when walking in the countryside after retreating from the scene of a panther consuming a rabbit or...

Sep 22, 2019•52 min•Ep. 7

BCC EP:06 Call of the Wild – a deeper view of the Chilterns

If you thought Buckinghamshire and the Chilterns was a tame area of countryside close to London, maybe think again… We hear from Darren who kept close watch of his dog when he realised a young puma was nearby in scrubby land by an airfield – he felt the mother could be close by. Darren is a councillor and discusses the pros and cons of acknowledging the presence of big cats. We then discuss the recent history of big cat sightings in the Chilterns with Paulo. He grew up in North London but was in...

Sep 07, 2019•57 min•Ep. 6

BCC EP:05 Sheep farming in the shadow of a big cat

Our two different guests explain the challenges of sheep farming when a big cat makes a visit. Gordon ran a small sheep enterprise when he was based in south Wales. A silent predator would sometimes take one of his ewes (also called yowes) or a tup (young male). Gordon explains how he made adjustments to life on the farm as he realised a large cat was making occasional visits. Our second guest Jean runs a croft in North Scotland. At certain times she and especially her neighbour lose yowes to a ...

Sep 01, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 5

BCC EP:04 Big cats from the Cotswolds to Corbett’s India

Gloucestershire’s Frank Tunbridge recounts his own close-up encounter with a big cat in the Cotswolds – he watched it snatch some rabbit bait at dusk and it later crept behind and gave him a warning growl. Frank then discusses the stealth of cats like leopards and pumas and refers to the writings of Jim Corbett who tracked leopards and tigers in India last century. We hear highlights from some of the witness reports Frank receives, and the questions these beg… Are the big cats here sometimes tar...

Sep 01, 2019•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 4

BCC EP:03 Exmoor Beast - past and present

We hear snippets from big cat witnesses in and around Exmoor as we visit Exmoor Zoo and the North Devon Show. A zoo keeper explains her encounter with a wild puma, while a retired butcher describes his view of two panthers isolating their prey in a flock of sheep several years back in Exmoor. We speak to Endymion and pay tribute to the late Trevor Beer, the naturalist and writer who researched big cats in Devon, and we hear from Alex who had a brush with a panther on the high moors. The Exmoor B...

Aug 22, 2019•54 min•Ep. 3

BCC EP:02 Filming the panther across the valley

We hear from Coryn near Stroud in Gloucestershire who explains her several sightings of a black panther across the valley from her house. She managed to film some snippets of the cat and she explains how it was scaled. Find out what happened when she later saw the same or a different black panther much closer. We also speak to Dave, 20 miles away, who was out lamping one night when he noticed an animal watching him from the other side of the field. As he moved closer and checked its eye shine he...

Aug 22, 2019•56 min•Ep. 2

BCC EP:01 Two panthers together, two pumas together

Most witnesses of big cats in Britain claim to see one cat. This would match the fact that most species of wild cat are mainly solitary in their lifestyles. In this episode each of our guests watched two cats together. We meet Di who watched a mother and cub black panther as she walked in her local Somerset countryside, and then we hear from John who came close to two adult pumas (also called cougars and mountain lions) as he cycled to work down a back lane early one morning in Gloucestershire. ...

Aug 22, 2019•48 min•Ep. 1

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