Kevin Collins was keeping an eye on the deer in a field across from his caravan park near Widemouth Bay, Bude, when the animals suddenly bolted
Olivier Vergnault Senior Reporter
18:06, 03 Sep 2025
The ‘big cat’ spotted by holidaymaker Kevin Collins in a field across from his caravan park in Widemouth Bay(Image: Kevin Collins )
A tourist observing deer grazing in Cornwall believes he has captured a ‘big cat’ roaming free on camera.
Kevin Collins was monitoring the deer in a field opposite his caravan park close to Widemouth Bay, Bude.
He recorded the deer and then, without any obvious cause, the creatures “decided to say goodbye” and fled.
Kevin subsequently examined the footage he had taken and discovered there was a ‘big cat’ visible, and he suspects that’s what frightened away the deer on Tuesday, September 2.
“We were watching a couple of deer which we thought was quite interesting in itself to see from our caravan,” Kevin said, reports Cornwall Live.
“They didn’t seem disturbed by anything. The field has been laid for corn so there was not much for the deer to graze on so they were by the hedgerows, when suddenly for no apparent reason they decided to say goodbye.
“They literally vanished over the hedge and bolted. A few seconds later what appears to be a big cat came at the top of field where the deer had been.”
Kevin, from Caerphilly near Cardiff in South Wales, who is enjoying one week on the North coast of Cornwall before travelling to Polperro on the south coast for his second week of holidays, explained he keeps domestic cats and what he observed across the field, though at a distance of roughly 200 metres as the crow flies, moved in the same feline manner rather than “bound like a dog”.
He explained that he attempted to gauge the dimensions of the ‘cat-like dark creature’ by using the agricultural machinery tracks in the field as a size reference, which are spaced two metres apart, and observing the creature’s pace relative to the trees in the background.
Kevin continued: “I don’t know if it’s ‘big cat’ but looking at the tracks the animal would be about one metre long and about as big as a large Labrador but moving in a more feline way. It didn’t bound like a dog but in a slinky and smooth way.”
The visitor explained that whilst most people picture a black panther when discussing ‘big cats’, it could be any variety of feline creature that might have previously broken free from a zoo or wildlife sanctuary.
He continued: “The farm house in the distance would have dogs which would explain why the creature walked past it so quickly. It certainly moved really fast.”
The ‘big cat’ spotted by holidaymaker Kevin Collins in a field across from his caravan park in Widemouth Bay(Image: Kevin Collins )