Sussex big cats do prey on badgers

The evidence that Sussex big cats prey on badgers is stacking up.Firstly,the young badger skull found in march was at a sighting of a big cat seen going up a tree at night.The witness stated that he heard a terrific racket like several cats fighting and,worried about his own cat being outside,went out armed with a lamp shining it around the field to see a very large black,alsation sized cat running away towards the nearby wood and go up one of the trees.

Last year while investigating the Telscombe sheep kills a partly eaten badger carcase was reported to me by the farmer,cause of death unknown,however there was intense big cat activity going on there at the time,this shouldn,t be a victim of circumstance i know but it,s still interesting nonetheless.

A few years previously further east in the county a witness had heard a terrific screaming noise she described as like a cat fight only louder,deeper and more violent sounding,the next morning a badger carcase was found in the garden partially eaten.

I have never heard a badger make more of a sound than the pig-like grunting noises it makes when rooting about for food however i remember from somewhere that they can make a terrible ,blood curdling screaming sound that sounds like "6 cats fighting together" although i would of thought that if a big cat was taking down a badger the throat grip that they prefer would of stifled any screams,not so it seems.

In the past year of wildlife surveys and trail camera set ups in areas of intense big cat activity a distinct lack of,especially young,badgers has been noted and this is contrary to observers in other areas who have noted no notable decline in their local badger populations.

Anyhow,i contacted Johnathen Mc.Gowen from all the way over in Dorset(see his very informative website here http://www.thenaturalstuff.co.uk/ ) to see if he had come across any evidence of big cats preying on badgers down in his neck of the woods and he replied "I very rarely find any evidence of large cats eating badgers but... my first sighting was of a puma stalking a 6 month old badger cub.... i have seen several photos of cat eaten badger carcasses and found remains of such in my study areas... along with several eyewitness accounts from people who have seen (big)cats killing badgers...I think that they prefer deer,rabbits then foxes and lastly badgers."This was very valuable information from Johnathen Mc.Gowen as Dorset is around a 100 miles away and shows that badgers as prey in Sussex could not be just a purely local phenonemon.

Well,i haven,t seen a badger carcase myself yet that could be attributed to a big cat kill like i have with deer and fox carcases but things do certainly seem to be fitting together even the fact that i found the skull in march which is the "hungry gap"time of year for big cats in Sussex.Without a body there is no murder but i found a skull so it,s a start to be going along with,a carcase is the best evidence but i must admit that i,m still very surprised that badgers fall prey to anything seeing as how tough they are.Keeping an open mind is the best way to explore new (to me) possibilities........

Is this the tail tip of a big cat?

When i first checked these pictures way back in febuary the cam had been triggered by something out of shot.The field of view of trail cameras is very narrow and this isn,t unusual,noticing this black streak at the bottom of the (second)picture i thought it may of been a smudge on the lens,again not unusual however a few weeks later i found a badger skull and then clawmarks up a tree(already blogged.Then,2 further sightings one of which the same night and 3 fields away certainly increased the odds of this tail tip belonging to a big cat.The angle is right as big cats do either carry their tail in a slight curve like this or more of a S shape.Chats to fellow big cat researchers revealed that they could see the possibilities as well.As researchers we are a naturally sceptical breed but this is a necessary trait to eliminate all other possibilities in order to confer that something is evidence of a big cat.When flicking the picture to and throw with the second one some sort or black shape is there but it is of course possible that the tail tip belongs to a black feral cat but scaled with a foxes brush would appear to show that it is around 2 " thick bringing it into the big cat bracket.A big cat was due to show up around this time as it had for several seasons but sods law meant i ignored this picture until the other evidence came to light and i had already shifted the cam to somewhere else.Oh well,there is always next year.........

Sussex big cats and the effect of light levels

Sussex big cats are well positioned as regards to hunting,most have the chalky South downs in part of their home range together with the hinterland north of these hills with it,s mixed woods and coppices.2 separate big cats would appear to be utilising the higher light levels on the downs at night when the moon is low in the sky,small or not out at all. Big cats are mostly low level light hunters,as a general rule they will emerge from their lying up cover like impenetrable (to us)scrub some way through dusk depending on the state of the moon,seasons and weather sometimes on a moonlit night as late as when the woodcock flight or in our terms when the light has dropped so we can,t make out the bark on an oak tree at 100 paces.They will then gear up to hunt through the twilight(crepuscular) and on into the night (nocturnal) sometimes carrying on through to dawn.Their hunting success would certainly appear to be determined by the light levels available as cats need a certain amount of light to see by and also where they have positioned themselves in any given hunting area,thier prey on the other hand like deer and rabbits once the light at dusk has dropped to a certain level are unable to see very well in fact us humans have better low light vision than them and they move around using senses of smell and hearing as well as memory of the places that they are. When the moon rises early in the night and there is no cloud or is thin white cloud then this will give good light to hunt by but on moonless nights sightings are historically few and far between,this is because they can emerge well into dusk and have all night to hunt well whereas on dark nights they are often forced to hunt in the twilight of dusk and dawn,sometimes into the morning and so are more often reported.What is interesting is that witness reports and on the ground evidence gathering often pinpoint a big cat on the open downland part of it,s range on the moonless nights and in the far thicker cover of the hinterland on moonlit ones.As the South downs hugs the coast for a large proportion of it,s length it is well lit by light pollution from the huge urbanised areas that are the seaside towns,couple this with the usual large populations of rabbits that inhabit the town meets downs edges and it,s easy to see the attraction for nocturnal hunters.It certainly seems the case that a big cat would hunt on moonlit nights in the wooded areas that are interconnected with thick hedges and then hunting more out in the open on the downs on the dark nights in fact for the last 4 years it has been possible to predict with some degree of accuracy whether the downs or hinterland would throw up evidence of big cat activity depending on the state of the moon.There are exceptions of course like which season we are in or what weather is hitting us and to be truthful,the only certain thing to be said about big cats in Sussex is that there are no certainties.............(the photo shows a view of the downs to the west of Lewes with Streat hill at the top of the picture)

The spring movements of a Sussex big cat

Here is some data on the spring movements of a particular Sussex big cat from this year.As i,ve said before,big cats in Sussex principally target rabbits at this time year and the evidence to back this up is overwhelming to say the least as well as the effects of the moon have on their behaviour.Take this big cat for example,since the end of january it has been sighted only at dusk and dawn on only moonless nights and when it has been seen on a moonlit period this has only been in the middle of the night (with lamps).It has been seen on 16 verifiable occasions with all bar 2 of these being in rabbit hot spots together with suitable cover enabling the cat to approach it,s prey easily.On the 2 exceptions it was seen at night travelling at speed crossing a road in an area with few rabbits and presumably heading straight to an area where there was better hunting.All sightings were of a very large alsatian sized,black cat usually seen trotting with a very long outstretched tail.It was described as having small ears,well muscled legs and a flat face.The same area has been mapped out by myself over the last 11 years with last year going on mostly on the ground evidence (previously posted on bigcatdetective blog) due to gaining the trust of various farmers etc. i have since uncovered witness sightings to back up this evidence found.

Briefly,it was seen at 1 site then 3 days later 16.5 km away with further sightings and other evidence linking it to the general area for a further 5 days.Then again 10 days later 14.5 km away on 2 days to be seen at night 8.5 km away.It certainly appeared to move quickly through the areas where there are few rabbits to appear for between 2 to 7 days in another area then to move on somewhere else.It has consistantly reappeared at the same cluster of parishes at the same stages of moon for 3 moons so far but i expect this to change by the next moon or at least by the end of april when it,s range should increase to take in account new food sources such as fledgling birds by which time it should still visit it,s previous places but not as predictably .

So far it,s spring range encompasses an area of around 140 sq.km but obviously i cannot say it hasn,t gone outside of this range in the time period.The summer range will increase greatly in size to accomodate new food sources coming into being along with the summer cover which will enable it to hunt this seasonal prey,like waterfowl on banksides.The picture shows how birds such as ducks and pheasants are active at the first slivers of light falling prey to crepuscular hunters like big cats and foxes.

Despite it,s huge size,around the 23" at the shoulder mark,it has consistantly ran away from dogs (4 occasions) and either trotted or ran off at speed when realising it had been seen by people...........

Sussex big cats prey on badgers,more evidence...

Ok,so it,s scant evidence at best and only a skull of a youngish badger however it was found at a time earlier this month of intense big cat activity in West Sussex in an area where last year 2 fox carcases were found attributed as being big cat kills .There is ample evidence on bigcatdetective.blogspot.com and elsewhere on the net that big cats habitually take foxes but none of badgers falling prey to these apex predators,badgers are not preyed on by anything else,they amble along with impunity falling victim only to traffic and yet this skull was found miles away from the nearest road.My trail cameras have been set up on big cat spotting tasks and wildlife survey dutys alike but all in areas where big cats have been known to be active and all have produced remarkably few badger pictures given that this stripy faced mustelid is very widespread and numerous .At this time of year the big cats are targeting almost exclusively rabbits as the deer are very much harder to catch than they were in deep winter but rabbit numbers are not yet thronged by the multitudes of youngsters yet.They will however also take foxes and a young badger shoudn,t be too much of a task for them but i had always thought that badgers were not taken by big cats because of the lack of evidence found.It,s very rare to find any parts of a badger like a skull,they were observed by a 1950,s naturalist(the name escapes me) dragging a old dead boar badger out of a sett and burying the corpse in a nearby rabbit bury.In fact,after a lifetime of being in the country accompanied by my morbid facination of skulls and attached bones,this is probably only the second badger skull i,ve ever found.What is needed next is a badger carcase bearing all the hallmarks of being a big cat kill as this is the conclusive proof as it has been with deer and foxes.(related article bigcatsinsussex.blogspot.com dated 13.2.11).........

Falmer paw print

The big cat seen around the Brighton area (20" tall ) may well have left this 6cm wide paw print,it,s certainly very cat-like that is the 2 front toes are asymetrical,not parralel,there are no claw marks even though it,s a very deep print and it was found at the sort of place that a big cat would be expected to pass through.Coupled with this the Brighton sighting that was in the Argus newspaper was only down the road.Although not massive the print does concur with the size of cat that has been seen all winter till now from Offham to Telscombe and Devils Dyke and is far biggar than any domestic breed of cat could reach (the biggest Maine Coon tom from Keoka cats when splayed it,s paw was 5cm)with a print the actual paw is a bit larger to allow for skin etc so the actual paw that would of left this mark in the cow pat would of been closer to 7cm.Being in a cow pat is a first though as most cats don,t like getting their paws dirty,their pads are a connection with the ground and they feel their way away around........

Sussex big cat seen climbing tree at night video report