The term “wildcats” includes many species of felines that are different from the domestic cat Felis cattus.
There is a European wildcat Felis sylvestris. Within Britain, the native European wildcat – the Scottish wildcat – is now confined to enclaves within Scotland, where numbers are slowly recovering. There have been reports of something like a Scottish wildcat in other parts of the UK – I have heard one from Suffolk. Obviously, it’s hard to tell a Scottish wildcat from a conventional tabby feral domestic cat.
Jonathan McGowan, who has been investigating big cats in Dorset for decades, found a dead European wildcat kitten in a forest there.
Other wildcat species of which sightings are reported in Britain include servals, caracals and jungle cats.