THERE have been three more sightings of big cats in Wirral.

Last week, witnesses reported sightings of large black cat-like creatures in Heswall.

Now, more people have come forward to report four more sightings in the region.

The initial report, made to Puma Watch North Wales, was a sighting of a large black cat seen limping down Kestrel Road in Heswall in the early hours of the morning on August 15.

Then, another witness reported seeing an animal matching the same description on Whitfield Common on September 1.

Since then, Puma Watch North Wales, a group set up to investigate and document such encounters in Wrexham, Denbighshire, and Flintshire, has received reports of four more sightings.

These encounters took place near Neston, Upton, along with a third sighting in Heswall.

Neston

Between Raby and Neston on Upper Raby Road, less than two miles across fields from Heswall’s Kestrel Close sighting, a witness called Andy spotted the “biggest black cat” they’d ever seen.

He said he saw the animal at around 1.30pm on Saturday, September 4.

He said: “It literally was in the blink of an eye what I saw. I couldn’t stop or reverse but it was the biggest black cat I have ever seen, the size of a Doberman.

“On the way home we stopped at the opening to the field to further look or see if there was something that could of given the appearance of an illusion or to what may have looked like this, there was nothing visible.

“Really wish I had reversed and looked at what it was but glad now I didn’t because I had my dog in the car with us.”

Upton

At around 8.45am on Friday, September 3, an animal matching a smilar description description was spotted dashing across the slip roads from Moreton Road to the Upton Bypass roundabout.

The witness said: “It ran across the road from Overchurch Park Woodlands.

“I said to my mum who was driving if she saw that big black cat cross the road and she said no but there’s been sightings of a puma around the area and that I should report it.”

Heswall

At around 8am on Thursday, September 2, a witness called Adam spotted a large black animal he believes was a puma while on his way to Wylde Coffee on the high street.

He told Puma Watch: “I was walking for my morning coffee, and in the main road, a large German Shepard size cat was running down the road.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes!

"Anyway, the coffee was delicious.”

Founder of Puma Watch North Wales, Tony Jones said the group was getting an increasing number of reports from Cheshire, Wirral and Shropshire.

He said: "Previous sightings of big cats on the Wirral include Willaston, Prenton, Bidston Hill and Burton Woods.

"The most recent of those occured at around 7.15am on Wednesday 21st June, 2021. Peter was using the Wirral Way cycle path when he spotted an all-black cat, the size of a German Shepherd, run down the embankment on his approach to the Damhead Lane bridge."

He added: "Big cats have also been spotted in Ellesmere Port’s Whitby Park and behind the nearby Costco store this year. A few miles away, Chester has become a big cat hotspot in its own right. This includes one occasion where an animal was caught on camera on Chester Meadows by a delivery driver.

"Big cats such as pumas are solitary with a hunting range of dozens of miles. They’re mostly spotted in Snowdonia and the Clwydian hills but reports of sightings in urban locations some distance from these areas are becoming more frequent.

"As seen with Llandundo’s now-famous goats, who have taken to roaming the town’s deserted streets during the coronavirus lockdowns, it’s likely that the reduced levels of human activity over the last year is encouraging big cats to roam further from the hills into more populated areas."