An Angus dog walker has spoken of her terrifying early morning big cat encounter near a popular beauty spot.
The woman fled home in tears after the animal crossed her path close to Forfar’s Balmashanner War Memorial the second reported sighting of a large feline in Angus in less than a month.
She said the close-up experience had put her off walking her young dog in the early morning, and warned others who use the busy path to be on their guard if the creature has made the wooded area and former quarry its home.
The woman, who did not wish to be named, said she had gone out around 7am on a walk with her dog on the “Bummie” path.
“I walked up to the top of Bummie and was starting to go along the wooded area when I saw something come out of the left hand side of the undergrowth,” she said.
“It walked straight in front of me, in the middle of the path about 15 to 20 metres away.
“It looked at me and at that point I just got my dog on the lead and ran as fast as I could down the path.”
The woman said she was too shocked to study the creature, but got a good enough look to realise the size of it and the fact that it was not a black cat, as sighted just a few miles north-east of Forfar last month.
She added: “It was a fawny brown colour and, having come home and looked at the internet, was more like a lynx in shape.
“I would say it was about four feet long because it took up the whole path.
“It looked round at me very slowly but I didn’t stay around any longer than I had to I just bolted home as fast as I could.
“I only saw it for a second or two, but that was long enough to see that it was a massive cat.”
Her experience follows that of Angus councillor Donald Morrison who sighted a black cat at Montreathmont, just off the Forfar-Montrose road, towards the end of last month.
Mr Morrison had been on his way for a Sunday morning walk with his two black Labradors when the animal crossed the road in front of him before disappearing into the forest.
Original image Photos on Location.