Family spots a panther-like feline prowling over a hill near a holiday park - fueling further fears of Britain's big cat epidemic

Anthony Dickinson, 75, was driving back to his farm holiday cottage and wanted to film the picturesque journey.

But he was astonished when he spotted a big cat skulking away from them over the brow of a hill.

The big cat - that he estimated was as tall as his waist - looked back before turning to one side showing its huge profile, and then disappeared into grass, in Exmoor, Devon.

Astonished Anthony and his son Jason, 45, went in search the animal, but couldn't see any sign of it.

Anthony said: "I couldn’t believe my eyes. Of all the sights to see in Devon, I never expected to see that kind of animal just metres away from us.

"The more I’ve thought about it, the more I’m convinced we saw the Beast of Bodmin -- and especially after hearing that other people had spotted it too.

"I mean, you can see it’s not a normal stray, can’t you? It’s definitely panther-like."

Anthony was with his son, his daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren outside Capelands Farm when the group spotted the big cat from a distance.

The family had been on holiday in Devon for a week when Anthony, from Nottingham, spotted the big cat.

His son Jason, now 45, slowed down when he pointed out the mysterious animal to his wife and kids - who, at first, thought it was just an ordinary stray.

It slowly moved off the road and into the high grass on the side - and Anthony got out of the car with Jason to hunt the beast down.

For another five minutes, they stood outside and peered over the gate behind the grass, which he said gave way to a 10 ft drop onto a large plain, but couldn't see it.

Anthony, at 5ft 8in, said the cat was easily as tall as the wild grass which came up to just below his waist.

Anthony said that he and Jason were convinced they’d just seen and filmed the Beast of Bodmin - an enormous phantom cat said to roam Cornwall.

Anthony said he was shocked to have seen such a big and potentially dangerous cat near Capelands Farm, where families will stay for holidays.

But he was thrilled that he caught it on camera in 2015.

“I was just filming the path up to the bungalow,” Anthony said.

“And then we say it up the road -- I couldn’t tell how long it was, but it was about the height of the grass it went into, which came to six inches above my knee I’d say.

“We couldn’t see any big cats around, but we couldn’t see small ones either.

“There was a gateway which led onto a big field about 10 ft below - we couldn’t see any big cats around, but we couldn’t see small ones either.

“We were out there for about five minutes - and I guess that since we’d thought we’d seen the Beast of Bodmin, that was a bit silly of us really.”

This latest sighting comes just days after a dog walker captured a video of what appears to be a very large black cat wandering the fields of Dalton near the bypass. 

Dog-walker captures video of 'big cat' in Dalton

The clip was filmed by a dog-walker who was left gobsmacked by the size of the animal.

Their friend said: "Friends of ours took this video of what is undoubtedly a very large black cat this morning, on the fields near the Dalton bypass, near the zoo.

"It was while walking the dog, before work."

Can you identify the species of the animal?

Have you seen this 'big cat'?

Email amy.fenton@newsquest.co.uk