The 'beast' of Essex ? It's almost as laughable as the 'beast' of Sussex!

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Lynx sighting in West Sussex

For many decades, the lynx, which was once native to Britain, has still been sighted across the south-east. This elusive cat, known for its tufted ears, and short tail, was believed to have died out a few thousand years ago, although some researchers believe it may well have existed in the UK until more recent.

At the beginning of June a sighting took place in Chichester of an animal larger than a fox and covered in black spots. The witness observed the cat in a back garden and stated it was a lynx. This sighting is currently being investigated.

"We live on the banks of the Cuckmere river just next to Alfriston, a few miles from Polegate, and as I drove across a bridge over the Cuckmere just near our house earlier this year, coming towards me on the road and caught in the headlights was what looked like a very large black cat – to me it looked elegant, sleek and somewhat puma like. I slowed down as I neared it, and it snuck under a railing and went into the undergrowth by the river. Of course I guess it could have been a black dog, such as a black Labrador, as it was about the same size as a lab, but it certainly looked much more cat like than that. I remember its eyes in the headlights being very reflective, and I think they reflected green, though its a while ago now and I cant be sure that I've remembered that correctly – but we have two dogs, and I remember thinking that the eyes didn’t look anything like our dogs eyes when reflected in lights.



We have about twelve acres of fields or thereabouts, with some six hundred years of river frontage, the frontage being all very overgrown as it is not grazed or cut at all and therefore providing good undisturbed cover for animals... hence the probable mink and stoats that I’ve seen, and the otter that someone fishing on our river bank early one morning believes that they saw. Whether a big cat passes by from time to time, who knows, but it could be possible, and there are some signs of a large predator of some sort having been here on more than one occasion. The nearest sheep to us are probably a mile or so away – but on a couple of occasions we have had what I think were large chunks of sheep vertebra (18in to two feet sections) and a sheep’s pelvis left in the field, so whatever brought them there must have carried them quite some distance. No doubt it could have been a fox, as there are vast numbers of fox and rabbits in the area, but whatever it was would have to have been quite sizeable to have carried such a large chunk of sheep, and somehow to me it just didn’t feel like the sort of thing a fox would have done, especially with so many rabbits in the area!"

2010 Brighton sighting...

'My sister saw a puma – brown tan flavoured one – walk across a path she was walking along with her partner near Waterhall in Brighton on the South Downs in October in 2010 (in the middle of the day I think). I’ve just found out about you and what you do so thought you should know for your records.'

Leopard seen at Portslade again

On Saturday March 5th at 11:00 am a woman named Sally observed a large, black cat stalking sheep as she was in the vicinity of the A27, Portslade, Brighton. Over the last couple of years there have been several sightings around the Brighton area. These can be read about in Neil Arnold's book, MYSTERY ANIMALS OF THE BRITISH ISLES: KENT

Black leopard sighted at Cowold, West Sussex

'Wednesday 19th January 2011
I’ve just found your name on a website so thought I’d let you know what I thought I saw on Wednesday. I live in Cowfold, West Sussex. I was upstairs on the computer in front of a window. It was a bright clear sunny morning, about 11.30am. I saw a large animal running across the field about 500 metres away. I stood up and looked. I then looked for my phone to take a photo but it would have been too far away. I looked and it was running. It looked great dane size but was more stocky, it was black and looked like it had a long tail. My mind decided quickly that it wasn’t a dog as it’s back was arching like a cheetah running so I immediately thought it’s a black puma. Of course, everyone thinks I’m a bit loopy but it definitely was a large cat animal running. It definitely was not a deer or fox and didn’t look like a dog.'