Big Cats in Britain UK Cryptozoological Pages. |
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Its not only large cats that are seen with increasing frequency in the British Isles, but all manner of weird and wonderful things. Some with wings some without. Also known animals that are not supposed to exist in this country, just the same as these cats. |
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UK WallabiesThere was a breeding colony of wallabies around Ashdown Forest and St Leonard's Forest in Sussex in the 1940s,supposed to have originated from Leonardslee Park near Horsham. They spread east as far as Storrington by the 1970s, and there were sightings around Chichester in the next two decades. I don't know of any recent confirmed reports, though they are said to be still living in Ashdown Forest. Another colony lives around the Chiltern Hills on the Buckinghamshire/Oxfordshire border, and seems to be thriving despite itself. Five were killed on roads in 2004 alone and another one drowned in a swimming pool. One seems to have turned to crime, as DNA tests on blood found after a break-in at Henley on Thames in 2002 found the culprit was a wallaby. They've been reported on Dunstable Downs just north of the Chilterns for many years and are said to have originated from Whipsnade Zoo, but Lord Rothschild was keeping them in complete freedom at Tring in the nineteenth century, so they may have a longer history. A new group seems to be becoming established about 20 miles north of these, on the Northamptonshire/Bucks border between Milton Keynes and Northampton, with occasional reports/photos/road kills in the last few years. Two of these were albinos – the first met a sad demise under the wheels of a local vicar on the M1 in 2005, but a second was photographed in May this year. Odd reports from other counties seem to be escapees rather than breeding groups, though sightings near Burton on Trent in 2002 and 2005 might suggest the remnants of the Peak District colony have moved south to lower ground. Jan Williams |
Lost Hawk Found After Nine Years BBC News: 12th October 2006
Vulture Escapes From Leek Zoo Eastern Daily Press: 13th August 2006 