Possible Wildcat, Ardnamurchan (Scotland) (1 Viewer)

[Mike Richardson]

Late last week I was driving along the Ardnamurchan Peninsula (Scotland) between Glenborrodale and Kilchoan, spotlighting the rush fields for Wildcat.

As usual, good numbers of Red Deer were in the area and I became familiar with their bright orange eyes and subsequent behaviour when briefly disturbed by my light.

Before long I picked out some different eyes that were unlike that of a sheep or deer. They looked smaller, closer together and white in colour.

My girlfriend did a great job of keeping the light on the animal while I looked through my bins. Unfortunately I was unable to pick out anymore than a general oblong shape although I did note some behavioural characteristics that seemed to contrast with that of an ungulate.

Rather then face the light, stand up and walk away (while still looking at the light) as deer seem to do, the animal seemed more calculating. Although watching us, it occasionally turned its head away and often blinked. For want of a better word, the eyes seemed to have more ‘intelligence’ behind them.

After a very short while the creature slunk off, moving down the hill and out of view. To say I was frustrated is a gross understatement!

I know several people on this forum have seen Wildcat in the same place and I would be interested in any views/ comments on my experience. I realise a positive ID is out of the question. I would also appreciate any information on Wildcat eye shine colour. The limited information I can find on this subject seems to suggest cats eyes are green/yellow although this is subjective.

Thank you

 

[rockfowl]

Hi Mike,

I find cats eyeshine colour very subjective and especially affected by the lamp you are using, some brighter white than others really alters the bounce back and perception. I spend a fair amount of time spotlighting, especially for 'bigger' cats and your sighting sounds pretty good, bright white/yellowy white to yellow, close together. Sadly feral/pets are similar!

Mark

Mark

 

[Mike Richardson]

Thank you for the information Mark. I guess I will never know for sure if I had a Wildcat. I'm already thinking of my next trip to the area and I will be certain to take a more powerful spotlight! BTW love the artwork on your website.

 

[Colin]

Hi Mike,
I assume that you are au fait with the various books by Mike Tomkies who used to live not too far from the area you describe and he was an expert on wildcats. Among the many books that he has written is one on this animal and is about the only one of his that I have not got. If you can get hold of a copy there may be some information in there.

 

[Mike Richardson]

Hi Mike,
I assume that you are au fait with the various books by Mike Tomkies who used to live not too far from the area you describe and he was an expert on wildcats. Among the many books that he has written is one on this animal and is about the only one of his that I have not got. If you can get hold of a copy there may be some information in there.

Thanks Colin, I will look into getting hold of a copy. Should be an interesting read if nothing else.

 

[Sandra (Taylor)]

Yes Mike, it's definitely a good read. And I've just received a belated birthday present - Rare, Wild & Free. It's Mike Tomkies' latest wildlife book I think, published by Whittles Publishing in Caithness. There are some lovely photos of wildcats and he tells about bringing up wildcat kittens etc... the photos aren't of the quality you would get with today's technology but the book looks pretty special. What a guy!

Sandra

 

[Mike Richardson]

Yes Mike, it's definitely a good read. And I've just received a belated birthday present - Rare, Wild & Free. It's Mike Tomkies' latest wildlife book I think, published by Whittles Publishing in Caithness. There are some lovely photos of wildcats and he tells about bringing up wildcat kittens etc... the photos aren't of the quality you would get with today's technology but the book looks pretty special. What a guy!

Sandra

Thanks Sandra. Will start dropping hints for my next birthday/Christmas.

 

[rockfowl]

Thank you for the information Mark. I guess I will never know for sure if I had a Wildcat. I'm already thinking of my next trip to the area and I will be certain to take a more powerful spotlight! BTW love the artwork on your website.

Thankyou! :t:

 

[meles]

Thank you for the information Mark. I guess I will never know for sure if I had a Wildcat. I'm already thinking of my next trip to the area and I will be certain to take a more powerful spotlight!

That's about the best place in the country for wildcat, but bear in mind there are hybrids around. The only 'wildcat' I managed to spotlight from the road in this area in 2007 was an obvious hybrid (marked like wildcat but thin tail). That said, I know there are genuine ones around as well. For the record, I was out on a bat-swarming expedition a couple of weeks back and picked out some eyes under the bushes, which belonged to a domestic cat, and under LED light they were definitely reflecting white, whereas I would get a more greenish/yellow reflection from a halogen light, so the light you use can indeed make a difference. Also, the individual animal concerned can make a difference - I have more than once seen animals with each eye reflecting a different colour eg. a fox with one green and one yellow eye. You can generalise about eye-shine colours to some extent, but it's not an identification feature on its own in my experience.

 

[Farnboro John]

I had a genuine tom there this year and your behaviour description sounds spot on, especially the long calculating look!

You can rule out any ungulates in the area very quickly, a lot of the time you will only see one eye of an ungulate because their eyes are side-mounted for all round vision whereas from a cat you will get close-set "twin headlights" - typical predator binocular vision. I would go further and say with practice you can fairly easily distinguish cat, fox and Pine Marten without ever seeing more thasn the eyeshine, just from distance apart, behaviour and gait (the Pine Marten's bouncing will rule it out quickly).

I concur the colouration doubts expressed, with one of my lights cats eyes even look orangey whereas Red Deer/sheep always seem to be green.

John

 

[Mike Richardson]

Thanks Meles and John for the last two posts. While I'm still a long way off adding Wildcat to my mammal list I am more confident then ever that I had at least a hybrid in my spotlight last week. Role on my next trip to Ardnamurchan.

 

[Claymore]

Its a good area for spotting wildcats, we were very lucky to spot one up near Ullapool 4 years ago and a friend saw 2 kittens near Rhue year after (he took photo to prove it)
Keep looking and invest in a night vision scope + powerful IR illuminator as they are VERY rare in daylight.
Good luck
Brian

 

[Martin Thomas]

You might be interested in buying a copy of a new DVD entitled 'Last of the Scottish Wildcats' from here which is due to be released any day now with half of the profits going towards conservation of these beautiful animals. I've only ever seen one in captivity but even that was quite an amazing experience.

I've no affiliation with the film makers by the way, just passing on the link for information.

 

[Farnboro John]

You might find the Mammal Society booklet on The Wildcat to be a useful reference. According to it Wildcats are intermittently active 24/7, which is the message I get from talking to locals and noting birders' records: although most sightings are post-dusk spotlighting there are sightings at all times of day and night.

It also records that a Wildcat typically requires 7 to 9 hours hunting to feed itself consistently and it doesn't take Einstein to work out that particularly in summer that MUST mean they are out in daylight (especially females feeding young).

Mind you, grilling huge expanses of hill/moor during the day for a cryptically coloured small cat compares badly with wazzing a spotlight round looking for eyeshine, so for ticking purposes the approach is obvious! If, however, you actually want to watch cats doing their stuff, go prepared for the long haul.

John

 

[Mike Richardson]

Seems to be loads of Wildcat info that I've missed. Thanks again everyone for your help.

 

[lulie]

here in africa, I quite regularly spot african wild cat. I use a red filter and although this doesn't give quite as much light, I find it more than makes up for it by not frightening the animal away.
I was able to watch an african wildcat for 15 mins the other day whilst it cleaned itself then pounced a few times on something, a mouse probably. The red filter certainly seems to effect the wildlife less and allows them to carry on doing what ever they were doing.

 

[Mike Richardson]

here in africa, I quite regularly spot african wild cat. I use a red filter and although this doesn't give quite as much light, I find it more than makes up for it by not frightening the animal away.
I was able to watch an african wildcat for 15 mins the other day whilst it cleaned itself then pounced a few times on something, a mouse probably. The red filter certainly seems to effect the wildlife less and allows them to carry on doing what ever they were doing.

Thanks for the info Lulie. I did consider a red filter for my spotlight but was worried about the light reduction. The area I saw my possible Wildcat is very open and animals are often very far from the road so I wanted as much light as possible. However, your experience in Africa indicates that I would probably have had a better views with the filter. Something to think about before my next trip.

 

[Farnboro John]

Some are using green filters and suggesting these are even better.

John

 

[Jhanlon]

At least one other BF member has seen one in this area this yr. I guess it's much harder to rule out (convincing) hybrids in the dark which is a downside to looking at this time. I too can't wait for my next trip as so far I've had no luck though rarely been in a position to give it long enough. John's had plenty of luck though so hopefully he'll be joining me next yr!

Was staying nr Aberdeen earlier this yr where population density is much higher. Followed up a couple of leads without much success. One was a recent sighting of a Mother with kit just a mile from where I was staying. I did a few walks at dusk down that way but no spotlighting.

I'll get one eventually!

Thanks Meles and John for the last two posts. While I'm still a long way off adding Wildcat to my mammal list I am more confident then ever that I had at least a hybrid in my spotlight last week. Role on my next trip to Ardnamurchan.