I have received some interesting photos sent to me by a witness who was a passenger in a car travelling between Great Barton and Fornham in West Suffolk on the B1106 road just before dusk on New Year’s Eve 2025.
The photo is used with permission of the witness and copyright holder, who is known to me. The witness described the animal in the photo as “big cat shaped”. They noted the long tail that curved down and then curved up again near the end.
The witness told me the driver couldn’t stop or slow down but they were able to turn the car round and make another pass. They first noticed the animal as it was being mobbed or divebombed by what they thought was a group of at least four red kites. The witness told me they had seen groups of red kites flying up the air as they drove past on previous occasions, and that the red kites had been eating roadkill by the side of the road.
Rick Minter of Big Cat Conversations told me that red kites divebombing or mobbing big cats have been reported around the UK, presumably after the big cat had disturbed them feeding on carrion.
The witness sent two more photos that show the group of birds (red kites?) flying around the animal.
There have been some sightings of big cats in the area in recent years, with several reports in the late summer of 2024 around nearby Bury St Edmunds.