A shocked mum had to look twice after spotting a large creature in a field in Scotland. At first glance Lisa Elliot thought there was a baby deer in field outside the care home where she works.
But when she looked again she saw it was a large black cat. She then captured the animal on camera as it moved across the ground.
This is the latest in a string of sighting of black cats in Scotland over recent decades. The earliest sighting goes back as far as 1947.
Lisa says she was especially interested as she follows the sightings, many of which have been caught on camera.
But the 36-year-old said it was a shock to see one for herself. She told the Daily Record: "I thought it was a baby dear to start with. I got up to the window and I thought 'oh my god, that's no deer'. It was huge! It was just walking across the field - I've never seen anything like it before."
Lisa first saw the creature moving across a field near the East Lothian village of Pencaitland on Monday August 15, just after 5.30am. Her images show the large black figure roaming across the field before disappearing into the grass.
Lisa, who works nightshifts at the Tyneholm Stables care home, said that this was the first time she or any of her colleagues have seen the black cat. And despite the threat of a big cat lurking outside her window, Lisa said she hopes she will catch a glimpse of it again.
Other sightings over the year have included big cats, such a lynx, roaming across Scotland. In January the Daily Record told how a big cat expert has mapped over 850 potential sightings after setting up group Big Cat Sightings in Scotland, to better understand the elusive mystery. Paul MacDonald says the group has received hundreds of reports of non-native species spotted across the country.
He believes the animal Lisa spotted could be a wildcat hybrid, but he ruled out a puma or lynx due to the shape of the tail. He told the Record: "You could say it is a bit of a mystery. It is more like a wildcat hybrid but it is not in the location you would expect to find a wildcat which would be in the Highlands.
"A few years ago we went to check a carcass at Bannockburn. We took samples and sent the DNA to be analysed. Tests confirmed it was a wildcat hybrid. You wouldn't expect to find that in Bannockburn.
"There have been sightings of big cats in East Lothian and around the Pencaitland area but the details described as more akin to bigger cats. The tail of this particular cat is definitely not the tail of a puma or a lynx."
Paul, 49, who is based in the Scottish Borders, has created a map of where sightings of these large animals have been made across Scotland in the hope of finding the creatures. He used his experience in Military Intelligence to gather reports of sightings and accurately map them.
After working through so many reports, he can now recognise patterns of movement, timings, and habitat. He can also determine the consistencies in big cat types reported in certain areas.
The earliest recorded big cat sighting dates back to 1947, with others recorded in the catalogue this year.
Many experts believe sightings are a case of mistaken identity as big cats are not native to Scotland, unlike the Scottish Wildcat which is of similar size to a domestic cat and on the brink of extinction.
The most famous sightings of big cats in Scotland date back to 1980 in a case dubbed The Puma of the Glen. On October 29, 1980, a farmer captured a puma in a cage-trap in Cannich, near Drumnadrochit by Loch Ness. Donald ‘Ted’ Noble of Kerrow Farm set a trap after losing livestock and following reports of big cat sightings in the area. It was suspected the puma, named Felicity, was a tamed pet and she was moved to the Highland Wildlife Park
Another infamous cat said to roam Dumfries and Galloway has ben dubbed the Galloway Puma. It was first sighted in the 1990s by tourists who claimed to have spotted a cougar like animal near Kirroughtree. One encounter in June 2001 left a young lady extremely shaken when she was walking her dog near Newton Stewart golf course.
The Galloway Gazette reported at the time that the woman claimed a “large black cat, bigger than an Alsatian” pounced at her before running away when her dog retaliated. A couple also reported seeing the creature in December 2012.
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