TWO more large black cat sightings have been reported in the South Lakeland countryside.

The animals were spotted within a couple of miles of each other on Friday.

Holidaymaker Malcolm Taylor reported seeing the creature for the second time while bird-watching at Beetham Caravan Park, while Levens resident Pat Proctor was amazed to see a similar animal in her Cinderbarrow garden.

Mr Taylor and his wife Edith, from Accrington, had set up a telescope to observe a wooded area near the park when the animal came into view.

“It was unmistakably a large black cat,” he said. “It was larger than a fox, and we watched as it prowled about on the edge of the wood.

"We trained the telescope and binoculars on it so we got a good view for about a minute or a minute and a half.

"Then a rain storm came and it went back into the woods.”

Mrs Proctor said: “The animal I saw was black and shiny and quite a bit bigger than a domestic cat.

"I was standing at the kitchen window when I spotted it in the garden just 20 yards away.

"I called my husband Harry and we watched it for a while.

"At first it was as still as a statue, then it suddenly pricked its ears as if it had heard something in the bushes up and sprang athletically into the air.

"Then it disappeared under the hedge.”

Sightings of the mystery creature have been reported regularly to The Westmorland Gazette for several years.

Last week we reported how retired head teacher Jeni Boothman spotted a large panther-like animal while she was travelling from Gilpin Lodge along the Crook Road.