'Big cats' were spotted near a farm but the animals ran off before the witness could take a photo to prove once and for all the legends of 'leopards on the loose'. 

The latest sightings both took place on Saturday night many miles apart at Woodmancote, near Defford, and at Eastham between Great Witley and Tenbury Wells.

The sighting at Eastham was so sudden and surprising, the driver said it caused him to swerve the car slightly in shock.

MYTH?: But DNA evidence of big cats in the wild has emerged in other parts of Britain and sightings continue to be reported closer to home in Worcestershire MYTH?: But DNA evidence of big cats in the wild has emerged in other parts of Britain and sightings continue to be reported closer to home in Worcestershire (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

With DNA evidence of a big cat in Cumbria, found on a kill, and closer to home in neighbouring Gloucestershire, people living in Worcestershire continue to report more sightings.

However, the elusive proof which would prove beyond doubt the powerful predators are prowling closer to home has yet to emerge. 

Strands of hair belonging to a leopard species Panthera Pardus have already been found on a barbed wire fence at a farm in neighbouring Gloucestershire following an attack on a sheep in 2022.

A witness said: "I saw two big cats in Woodmancote near Defford crossing the road last night opposite  Copeland Court Farm.

"They were definitely big type cats. I stopped my van but they ran off into fields before I could get photos. I probably couldn't have got a decent shot because it was dark. 

"I'd say they was about the size of a big dog." 

Meanwhile, a further sighting has been described in Eastham which is out towards Tenbury Wells, also on Saturday night, at 7.48pm.

Writing on the Evesham and Villages Big Cat Group, the witness said: "A large black cat was spotted by myself entering a field in Eastham (WR15) on Saturday night. I saw the rear end of an animal approximately 18 to 24 inches tall. It was way too big to be a domesticated cat and it wasn't a dog or any other normally seen animal. The animal caused me to swerve slightly when I saw it due to its size."

Another reader has also been in touch about another close encounter.

He said: "It was in 2007 in Twinning, I was driving my Volvo. I'd just turned off the A38 near the Hilton, North of Tewkesbury.

"It was mid morning on a bright sunny day and I saw it going through a hedge about 30 feet in front of me, having just crossed the road. I saw three quarters of it, from the shoulder back. I'm an owner of domestic cats and dogs and this wasn't a either. It was larger than a Labrador, it was very feline."

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The shocking sightings of large leopard-like cats have been reported as recently as this year in Harvington, near Evesham and others date back 20 years.

Possible sightings have now been noted in Harvington (this year),  Gorse Hill and Elbury Mount Local Nature Reserve, Aldington (between Offenham and Badsey), near Kidderminster, near The Walshes in Stourport, Upton Snodsbury, Powick, Madresfield, the Lenchford Inn at Shrawley, Bewdley, Bentley (near Bromsgrove) and Stoke Prior.

Many of these encounters are in Worcestershire's wildest tracts of country. However, not all are in remote areas with one dog walker describing how she fled a Worcester nature reserve with her two powerful dogs, one of which was bred to fight wolves.