GLEN VAUDREY'S WHOLE WIDE WORLD #30. Scotland

30. Scotland
Scotland is home to one of the most famous of cryptids out there, the world famous Nessie, also known as the Loch Ness Monster. 

However, we are going to stay on land for this mystery animal; we are going to look at one of those out of place big cats. While there have been plenty of sightings made over the years on the Scottish mainland it is perhaps even more surprising to learn that they have also taken place on some of Scotland’s smaller islands with sightings of large black cats being recorded on the isle of Mull as far back as the 1970s and right up to recent times. Mull is an island that at its closest point to the mainland of Scotland is still a 15 minute ferry trip so how a big cat could have made the journey undetected is a mystery. But that’s not the only island to have a big cat sighting for there have been others on islands even more remote from the mainland. In 1999 there was a sighting of a dark brown cat the size of a collie on the very small (8x3 miles) and remote island of Colonsay (over 2 hours on a ferry from the mainland) that must be among the strangest sightings. The creature was spotted by a couple out walking who came within 50 yards of this larger than normal cat; after watching it for twenty seconds until it disappeared over a stone dyke and into the ferns. The couple made enquires locally but nobody could explain the sighting.

Of course the sightings on Mull and Colonsay are just a couple of the reports of strange creatures recorded in The Mystery Animals of the British Isles: The Western Isles.
Starting soon you will be able to tune in and hear about the mystery animals of Scotland on BBC Radio Scotland, the Morton Through Midnight show will play host to Morton's Mystery Creatures, a regular feature where I will be looking at Scotland’s mystery creatures.
Next stop is a trip south of the border to England.