Big Cat Conversations

Rick Minter

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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142 episodes
Updated Wednesday

Episodes142

Newest first

Wednesday · 1 hr 18 min
BCC EP:142 The Dean big five & TV big cat review
Our first guest Robin Baker describes three big black cat sightings from the Forest of Dean and two pieces of his resulting artwork which include black leopards. Robin also explains his ‘Big Five’ creatures of the Dean which feature in his artwork. Robin also explains the scowles of the Forest of Dean, a landform which inspired Tolkein’s Lord of the Ring’s Middle-earth landscape. The scowles are gullies in the woods, produced by ancient iron ore mining and now used as eerie backdrops to Star Wars and Harry Potter film scenes. These channels are also highly suited to big cats, for their routes and their ambush positions. Our second guest is Gary Ridley, back from episode 131. He fronted the recent Big Cat Investigator program in the BBC Our Lives series, available on I Player. Gary responds to podcast listeners’ different feedback on the program. The program had an emphasis of the quest rather than the proof, and Rick and Gary discuss a key item which didn’t make the final edit… Word of the week: scowles 29 July 2026
June 30 · 1 hr 18 min
BCC EP:141 Mountain lions in the mix – Wiltshire & Herefordshire
Our first guest Ellie watched two pumas in Wiltshire in April this year. Still fresh from the excitement she describes the incident, and the new sense of wildness it brings to the British landscape for her. She also explains how this experience influences her work as an artist. She has recently seen a darker shaded puma in a sanctuary in Georgia, USA, that matches the colour tone of the Wiltshire ones. Ellie has been invited to Wildside (ep 137 of our podcasts) to be an artist in residence, to illustrate pumas and other animals at the sanctuary. Some of Ellie’s working sketches and illustrations of the pumas are available to see on The Refs & Links page of the Big Cat Conversations website. Our second guest Sophie was staying at a property next to Wildside in Herefordshire last year. Her fish barbeque had already attracted two farm cats one evening, but then a much bigger one entered the grounds. The farm cats dived for cover, and Sophie discusses whether it was the barbecue smell that attracted the puma-like big cat, or the wailing sound coming from nearby at Wildside, that sounded like a puma on heat… Words of the week: rufous pelage 30 June 2026
May 31 · 1 hr 20 min
BCC EP:140 Forest of Dean forum – the voice of young trackers
We hear from several big cat witnesses at the Dean Heritage Centre, recorded at the Art & Science of British Big Cats event in April-May 2026. Key guests include Will, a 16-year-old investigator who has had three big cat encounters in the Forest of Dean area, and 10-year-old George, who travelled from Somerset with his mun Louise to take part. George looks for evidence in southwest England, and with his dad he recently observed a big cat skulk away at dusk as they were watching beavers. Artist Rob Amos describes chatting with visitors at the event while he produced his oil painting of a ‘Gloucestershire black leopard at dusk’ to engage people for the final three days. See photos on Big Cat Conversations website Refs & Links page, and a video with snippets from the event will soon be available via the Big Cat Conversations YouTube channel. Words of the week: weird is cool 31 May 2026
April 28 · 1 hr 3 min
BCC EP:139 Suffolk born & bred – the people and the panthers
We hear from Paul, a retired woodsman from mid Suffolk. He has had three encounters with large cats, including one watching him through the bracken. He describes his own incidents and others he has heard. Paul explains his tree management work across the local countryside and considers how big cats would use woods and features of the landscape. Paul and Rick also discuss actions to get more evidence in Suffolk, including a ‘camera wall’ being set up across a nature reserve on a farm. Words of the week: non-invasive study 28 April 2026
March 31 · 1 hr 15 min
BCC EP:138 Predators in charge – Midlands leopards in focus
Ian encountered two black leopards in a midlands wood at dusk, watching them rush through the dry reeds by a dyke. Ian discusses his close observation of the playful large cats, and mentions other snippets on similar big cats he has heard from the area. Our second guest Damian also keeps watch for big cat activity around Northamptonshire. He discusses a hoisted half-eaten roe deer carcass he found 8 foot up a tree. His interest in the topic began after driving around a road-kill black cat, the scale of a labrador. Then he started scanning the landscape for large cats during his drives in the following years. One afternoon he got his reward… Word of the week: unity 31 March 2026
February 28 · 1 hr 11 min
BCC EP:137 Puma Central – puma witnesses meet at Wildside
We return to Wildside Exotic Rescue in Herefordshire, where owner Lindsay Mckenna now cares for 11 pumas, a lynx, a serval and many other animals which were exotic captives needing new and better homes. Our 4 guests describe their own sightings of pumas wild in Britain, and compare them to the pumas at Wildside... Jenny near Bath watched a puma exploring her garden at 6.30am in 2023 before it loped off into the adjacent wood. Tracey re-lives her close encounter with a grey-tone puma in Chile, and prompts discussion on pumas avoiding people even when close by. John Bilney explains how he sets up trail cams at woodland edges in the south Cotswolds, after he confronted two pumas on a cycle to work one morning. Jon from Carmarthen recounts the hissing puma in front of his car as it cornered a bend in south-west Wales, experienced just 5 days before the podcast recording. The guests chat with Lindsay about the challenges of caring for pumas at Wildside, as we hear the puma sounds in the background as they feed on portions of locally culled fallow deer. Rick offered the pumas their first taste of boiled eggs… Website for Wildside Exotic Rescue, where we recorded this episode. Note the cottages for hire, the Open Days, and the Donations pages, as ways of supporting Wildside. https://www.wildsideexoticrescue.co.uk/ Words of the week: coalition of cats 28 February 2026
February 5 · 1 hr 33 min
BCC EP:136 North West safari - Cheshire leopards & the Cumbrian cub grows up…
Our first guest Darren describes his investigations on local marshes in Cheshire, where he’s seen a black leopard, chased by his dog. This happened after his previous encounters with similar looking cats nearby, including on a disused golf course. Some of Darren’s encounters have been close up, and most have involved dogs around as well. Darren explains how these events have motivated him to search for more evidence and do a Youtube channel. For our second guest we have an update from Liz in Cumbria, where a mother and cub, presumed black leopards, have been visiting the area. Liz has six more big cat events to describe around her farmhouse from the past year. She discusses what appears to be a young male big black cat loitering around the property. It shows far less predictable behaviour than the mother’s calm vibes. Words of the week: Panthera pardus Britannica 5 February, 2026
January 11 · 1 hr 8 min
BCC EP:135 Gaze of the cats - return visits to Glos & Herefordshire
Tracey had a prolonged and close view of a black panther outside her car at a forest edge in Gloucestershire in 2001. Two years later she was able to compare the cat with a black leopardess at Heythrop private zoo in the Cotswolds. Tracey recounts other big cat reports from family and friends, including from her sister who was a sceptic until seeing a black panther in the same general area, and from friends who were confronted by a puma on a cycleway near Stroud. Tracey has had two puma encounters herself. The first on a mountain path when trekking in Patagonia, and then in October 2025, when driving on the edge of Cirencester. Rick recalls past big cat sightings in precisely the same area of Cirencester, unknown to Tracey. In a final segment we play voice messages from Craig in Herefordshire as he follows up ep129 when he reported a puma on one of his trail cams. In December Craig was charged by a puma just meters from that camera and he’s twice seen watching eye shine at close range. We then hear from Mark Graves, from ep 95, as he responds to Craig’s comments and queries about these recent events. Word of the week: zoophobia 11 January 2026
Dec 11, 2025 · 1 hr 17 min
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
Nov 11, 2025 · 1 hr 37 min
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
Oct 19, 2025 · 1 hr 7 min
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
Sep 24, 2025 · 1 hr 14 min
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
Aug 31, 2025 · 1 hr 16 min
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
Aug 9, 2025 · 1 hr 15 min
BCC EP:129 Hidden in Herefordshire - the leaping leopard & the hissing puma
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 on the lane outside his property in Herefordshire. It rushed off, doing a long leap through a high gap in the hedge. Malcolm then asked around and found that other people in the area had also seen a panther around the same time. Malcolm is coincidentally about 3 miles away from Craig, a podcast guest from episodes 72 and 116. Craig joins us again for the second half, updating us on events in the area where he found the clawed carcass and set out trail cams. Craig has a recent trail cam photo to describe, captured in mid July 2025 - see copies on BCC website Refs & Links. Then the following week, at 7pm in the woods, he experienced a full-on hiss directed at him – a google search confirmed his view that it came from a big cat, most likely a puma. Craig and Rick discuss the reports of both black and brown big cats, described over many years in this corner of Herefordshire and seemingly keeping to themselves… Word of the week: GISS (General Impression of Shape & Size) 9 August 2025
Jul 16, 2025 · 1 hr 15 min
BCC EP:128 Secrets of the hoax – real & imagined beasts
Secrets of the hoax – real & imagined beasts Our first guest Simon Lea had two close encounters with a large black panther at his farmholding in Oxfordshire. He later created the life-size metal panther that was positioned in Charlbury in a large garden close to the station. The ‘panther’ was spotted by train passengers and sometimes got reported as a real big cat, as previously discussed on ep 93 of the podcast. We hear the full story behind the Charlbury Panther from Simon. Simon has just made a replica Charlbury Panther for the coming event, Depicting Britain’s Beasts – the art of British big cats, at Nature in Art gallery, Gloucestershire, 12-22 August, 2025. https://natureinart.org.uk/event/depicting-britains-beasts-the-art-of-british-big-cats/?instance_id=977#:~:text=With%20evidence%20from%20DNA%20and,been%20moved%20to%20illustrate%20them. Our second guest Andy Council is a Bristol based mural painter and graffiti artist. He discusses three of his British black panther illustrations which will be at the Nature in Art event in August. He explains how he came to use British big cats amongst his public artwork. One of Andy’s paintings is the Five Valleys Panther, based on big cat sightings in the Stroud area. Andy and Rick discuss sightings they have heard about in people’s gardens in that area. Andy is interested in awareness raising through his art. He explains the importance of showing panthers, pumas and lynx in a British setting, and he describes the challenges of depicting a big cat in a modern street-art style. Word of the week: tagging 16 July 2025
Jun 21, 2025 · 1 hr 25 min
BCC EP:127 Lurking at the margins – big cats of Mercia & Durham
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 which explores quirks of history and folklore in the midlands and Mercia. As well as discussing his panther incident, Hugh mentions other big cat sightings he’s heard of and even a dogman description he’s received. He also considers the treatment of big cats in folklore, he touches on the black dog phenomenon, and he and Rick consider the black panthers reported in eastern Canada where Hugh is currently based. Our second guest Graham describes his recent incidents involving a large cat in County Durham. He and his dog were growled at from close quarters one winter evening, then months later, just a week before this podcast recording, they came close to a black panther at dusk. Graham explains how he’s been coming to terms with the reality of big cats in the first few days after the experience. Both Hugh and Graham mention a feeling of ‘joining a club’ after their cat encounters. Word of the week: liminal 22 June 2025
Jun 1, 2025 · 1 hr 18 min
BCC EP:126 Kent Cat Fight, Surrey double take
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. We speak to Kit about how Big Cat Conversations helped shape her ideas for the big cat aspects of the plot. The book has already been optioned as a future TV screenplay, and Kit discusses how she weaved big cat sightings into a novel about the developing frictions across a close community in south-east England. It is a rollercoaster of a story which explores people’s switch to wild behaviour on different levels. Our second guest Gary describes some big cat incidents in Surrey, just 50 miles west of where Cat Fight is set. He himself has twice observed a black panther in a neighbouring agricultural field, viewed from the same spot in his parents’ house. Believed by Gary to be a black leopard on each occasion, the sightings were 20 years apart in 2003 and 2023. Word of the week: rosette Cat Fight book availability in UK: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/463613/cat-fight-by-conway-kit/9780857506597 Cat Fight book availability in North America: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Cat-Fight/Kit-Conway/9781668066348 Copies of Cat Fight are available for UK and for North America listeners to win by emailing ‘word of the week’ suggestions – details in the podcast. Kit Conway, Cat Fight author’s website: https://www.kitconway.com/ 1st June 2025
May 9, 2025 · 1 hr 6 min
BCC EP:125 Scottish borderlands – unspoken leopards & lynx
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 quietly discussed by some of the locals. John takes us through various lynx encounters, including two of his own, and describes his three experiences with large black cats – one seen nearby from a slow moving train, and one unnervingly close at night. John starts the episode by explaining how his military background helps his observation and tracking skills. He also discusses lynx reintroduction proposals which have been considered for his part of Britain. John is a musician and with his wife & friends created his own outro track for this edition… Eyes Burning Bright. Words of the week: orienting response 9 May 2025
Apr 17, 2025 · 1 hr 6 min
BCC EP:124 Confronting a midlands panther - a five metre face-off
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 the cat at close range. As the predator was poised, there seemed no easy way out. John explains his thoughts and the subliminal messages he received at that moment, as he reached in his pocket and unlatched his Swiss army knife… ‘Big Cat Mystery’ outro track courtesy of Lancashire band DRIVE. Words of the Week: beauty in the beast 17 April 2025
Mar 26, 2025 · 1 hr 17 min
BCC EP:123 A shot in the dark – green eyes through the snow
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 actually saw a puma though his gun sights – he re-lives the high emotions on the winter hillside as bright green eyeshine stared back. Rick and Darren also consider the prospects of a big cat being trapped, and they discuss an event in 2011, when the police and the Home Office verified a plaster cast as from a puma-like big cat. For our second guest we return to Exmoor Zoo, meeting owner Danny Reynolds. He briefs us on the new female black leopard, Bagheera. She is a lively three year old, who enjoys playful stalking of the visitors and keepers. Exmoor Zoo also hosts two wolverines, last known in Britain 8,000 years ago, or has this podcast found that they are back somehow? We discuss some footage which might hold the clues, with some extracted stills on the Big Cat Conversations website. Danny and Rick discuss the traits of wolverines, a big type of mustelid, both in the wild and at the zoo. Words of the week: talon & Gulo gulo 26 March 2025