A LARGE black cat could have made its home in South Lakeland according to a retired civil engineer who spotted the creature close to his farmhouse.

Roy Jackson, 73, is convinced that the feline he saw sat on a wall on the driveway of his Gatebeck Lane home in the village, near Endmoor, was either a puma or a cougar.

He was out walking his nine-week old Labrador puppy on the evening of Tuesday September 11 when a beam of light from his torch caught the large non-native cat staring back at him. He watched it for around ten seconds before it slid down the wall and into the darkness.

"It was enormous," exclaimed Mr Jackson, who was previously sceptical of large black cat sightings. "It was about three foot six to four foot long and it had a curved tail which was about 18 inches long.

"I shone my torch right at it and picked out its eyes which were green in the torchlight and they were about the size of an old penny.

"I had not been drinking. I would not make this up. I called for my wife, Judith, but she had gone back into the house. I was apprehensive because it was less than 30 metres away. It was definitely not a domestic cat."

Mr Jackson said that about four months ago an estate agent friend had reported seeing a large black cat on his driveway after she was heading home. Last winter he also saw some large paw prints in the snow which he took pictures of.

He believes that the cat is feeding on rabbits and thinks he knows where the animal may be living but was not prepared to reveal the site for fear that someone would shoot it. Mr Jackson is now using an action camera at night in a bid to capture the creature on film.

The Gazette has reported a number of sightings of a large black cat prowling in the nearby area over the years. In 2002 Christine Dodgson, of Cracalt Farm, Natland, described seeing an "absolutely jet black" creature in a silage field from the bathroom of her home.

Also in 2002 a woman and her ten-year-old son claimed to have seen a large black cat moving from gorse bush to gorse bush as it stalked rabbits at the back of the Helm, near Oxenholme. In January 2002 the paper also reported Chris Martin coming face to face with a puma-like creature on Burton Road close to the turn off to Oxenholme.

The Gazette has also reported sightings at Kendal, Sizergh, Levens, Holme, Winster, Sedbergh, Brigsteer and Witherslack.