Fortean Times has been logging ABC sightings in the UK for 45 years, following on from Bob Rickard's listings in Info Journal #13 (May 1974), which covered 1962 to 1973. Throughout the 1990s, my nationwide surveys detailed an average of 400 sightings a year right across the UK. Since then, many local newspapers have folded, leading to a precipitate decline of press reports arriving at Fortean Towers. However, the ABCs still prowl, as can be seen from the following trickle of reports. For my general survey of British ABCs, see FT167:28-37
2020
In early August 2020, a sandy-coloured ABC, "the size of a medium dog" about 15in (38cm) tall, with dark spots and pointed ears, was photographed on Coldham's Common, Cambridge, by Dan Underwood (below). Maybe a savannah cat. D. Mail, D. Telegraph, 12 Aug 2020.?!. Article is actually dated to the 11th of August, not the 12th. I was also unable to find one from the Daily Telegraph about this.
Dr. Andrew Hemmings of the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, has identified five recent animal carcases in the UK with tooth imprints on their bones that could only have been made by a non-native cat the size of a leopard or puma. Rick Minter of the Countryside Agency has recorded 1,300 ABC sightings in the UK over 10 years. One report was of a black leopard that that followed two dog walkers in May 2020 for about a minute near Oldbury-on-Severn, South Gloucestershire. Minter takes a conventional blood-and-sinew view of ABCs. He said that about three-quarters of sightings are black leopards - Labrador-sized cats with an enlongated body, pronounced shoulder blades, a long, thick tail and flat face with rounded ears. The others are mainly pumas - brown big cats with slightly more pointed ears - and then some lynx. Most sightings occur at dawn or dusk, when the ABCs use the darkness as an advantage over their prey. Minter believes there could be a breeding population of about 250 black leopards and 250 pumas in the British countryside. Times, 29 Aug 2020.
CCTV footage in Eastbourne, East Sussex, in late September showed an ABC "bigger than a Great Dane" (right) Sun, 1 Oct 2020.?!. Article is actually dated to the 30th of September, last updated 1st of October.
Hiker confronted by 4ft (1.2m)-long ABC while watching a sunrise in Snowdonia, Wales, in October. In late November, a Snowdonia farmer said 10 of his flock had been killed in the previous four months by a single bite to the neck. D.Star, 24 Oct; D.Mirror, 28 Nov 2020.
'Leopard' photographed near back gardens in Codford, Wiltshire, in mid-December. Sun, 17 Dec 2020.
ABC photographed on Chester Meadows, Merseyside, on 13 December. At 7.30am on 16 December, a "large but slender" ABC was spotted at 30m (100ft) on Ince Marshes, Ellesmere Port. Later, the witness photographed a large pawprint in mud 300m (328 yards) from his sighting.Liverpool Echo, 20 Jan 2021.
On 30 December, 10 sheep were killed in Marton, near Macclesfield in Cheshire. The farmer had previously reported a "very large black cat-type animal" near the farm. Then on 8 January 2021, a sheep and two lambs were found dead in nearby Winsford, killed by a predator larger than a dog. Sunday Mirror, 10 Jan; D.Telegraph, 11 Jan; Sun, 13 Jan 2021.
There were 12 ABC reports in and around the Lake District in 2020, attributed to the "beast of Cumbria". Sightings have been logged for decades. Sharon Larkin-Snowden, who set up a "Big Cats in Cumbria" Facebook page, said: "The most recent sighting was at Thirlmere, where there have been reports of a black-and-white leopard." She mentioned several sightings of two big cats near Kendall, leopard fur found in the vicinity, and sharp teeth marks on a deer jawbone suggesting an ABC kill. <i> 12 Jan; Guardian, 13 Jan 2020.
2021
Black ABC seen on a busy road near Talacre, Flintshire, about 20 miles (32km) from Pontybodkin on New Year's Day. At least five similar sightings of "the Puma of Pontybodkin" in the area since November. Then a van driver had an encounter near Pontybodkin on 14 January. "My headlights picked up the puma crossing the track" he said. "It was the size of a Labrador, black and athletic looking. I braked and it stood 30 yards off, staring at me, eyes glowing in the dark, before slinking away." Sun, 6+16 Jan; D.Mirror, 16 Jan 2021
On 2 January, cyclist spotted a jet black ABC at 6.30am on a footpath in Witney, Oxfordshire, about seven miles (11km) from Burford. It was dubbed "the Beast of Burford", because of sightings dating back to the 1990s. (In 2005 a panther-like ABC was photographed opposite the Mason's Arms pub in Brize Norton.) Metro, 6 Jan 2021.
Recent ABC sightings in Lopen, Somerset. Black ABC filmed near Ashurst, West Sussex, at midday on 16 January. Sun, 18 Jan 2021.
ABC with pointed ears seen at 3am on Moel Famau hill in Flintshire, North Wales, presumably in early February. D.Star, 8 Feb 2021.
ABC seen near Lynnbottom Tip on the Isle of Wight on 6 Feb. Larger than a Labrador with long thick tail. Sightings on the island go back to the 1980s. Isle of Wight County Press, 12 Feb 2021.
A black ABC was photographed prowling through undergrowth beside fields near Thrupp in Gloucestershire on 25 March (above). The unnamed witness was about 100 yards away. It was said to be the fourth ABC sighting in the area since November 2018, including one in 2020 in South Woodchester, two miles away. D.Mail, 27 Mar 2021.
Cheshire has become an ABC hotspot in recent months, with at least 12 sightings in the county since last December. The latest was reported by a visitor to Caldy Valley Nature Park in Hundington, who said he heard "continuous growling and snarling from the undergrowth". Another recent sighting was a four-foot long cat with a "great big tail" seen by two witnesses near the Chester Greyhound Retail Park on 12 February; a worker in the retail park reported seeing a "rather large black cat" later the same evening. Cheshire Live, 20 April 2021.