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The British Big Cat Phenomenon
Jonathan McGowan
Hangar 1 2022
Differing Theories, Eye Witness Reports and the Predators Diet
Pb, 190pp, £14.77, ISBN 9798839166653
Searching for Evidence and Territorial Marks
Pb, 191pp, £14.77, ISBN 9798839168923
Sightings, Field Signs and Bones
Pb, 183pp, £14.77, ISBN 9798839167872
Environmental Impact, Politics, Cover-ups and Revelations
Pb, 153pp, £14.77, ISBN 9798839169654
Jonathan McGowan’s achievement in gathering so much evidence for big cats in Britain over a lifetime is extraordinary.
The British Big Cat Phenomenon comprises four slim volumes. It’s unclear what order they’re in, but I’m guessing Differing Theories comes first, followed by Searching, then Sightings and then Environmental Impact as the final book in the series.
Differing opens as an evocative natural history memoir, describing McGowan’s first sightings of big cats as a teenager in the 1980s. After an abusive childhood with periods in foster care, the young McGowan sought solace in watching wildlife, badgers in particular. It was through nocturnal badger watching that McGowan had his first big cat encounter – with a Dorset puma apparently stalking badgers.
McGowan’s experience as a “field naturalist” frequently leads him to big cat sightings – the warning calls of birds alert him to a big cat in the area. He has received multiple reports of a British “running cat” observed while it’s on sustained, long-distance chases after deer. This is different behaviour from leopards and pumas – ambush predators that can only manage short sprints.
Searching dives straight into the evidence accumulated from McGowan’s decades of experience in his “study area” around Bournemouth and Poole. Evidence includes scats (big cat poo) and scent sprayed on bushes and posts. There are partial deer skeletons that have fallen out of trees after storms.
There’s much detail on scent markings and “scrapes”
