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

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

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