Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Well, again its been a long time, Nick spent most of the last 10 months out of the country, mutley has a new home, but scruffbag is the new hound on the scent. Not much too report lately, but there has been some interesting photos of a puma in scotland in the press. Also a child in wales was attacked and had nasty scratches accross his face, he says it was a puma. The claws were exactly 1 inch accross.
Its time to continue the search, the whole crew are back together. I'm going to investigate the sightings and news across essex in the last 6 months over the next week so stay tuned...
Its time to continue the search, the whole crew are back together. I'm going to investigate the sightings and news across essex in the last 6 months over the next week so stay tuned...
Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Well its been a while, sorry about that - but the hunt IS still on!!
Its Simon back here, Nicks not online at the moment so I'll give you a rough rundown of whats been happening and then he can fill you in when he gets his arse round to the computer.
Firstly about three weeks ago Nick was walking Mutley round by the Badgers head site and saw a Large browny black feline animal walking across the field. Quite a distance but he put his digital camera onto video mode and tried to capture it on film. Unfortunately it wasn't quite up to the job but it at least gives an idea of perspective and distance. I think at this point (and if I remember correctly Mutzo was regretting not wearing brown fur so they set off back to the Van quick sharp. I think around this time Nick had also spoken to a farmer who mentioned that he had also found a mutilated Badger..
Anyway, before long, in fact only a few days later Nick (or Birdman as he is known.. but thats another story) was back in the same place and sure enough same thing again.. Still too far away but hes convinced it was too big for a cat or fox but had the low feline body and tale.. hmm the plot thickens...
Kev Nick and I had also had a few late night jaunts in the area (well, I say jaunts but we didn't go steaming 'in country' like nutters, in fact we rarely left the motor!) unfortunately the weather in essex has been shite, so not much was seen - although much QT was drunk and the even some more tasty sando's were consumed.. It was a good excuse to get out the house and have a chat if nothing else.
.. there was a hilarious moment somewhere in 'Hicksville' the middle of nowhere lost and parked by a field in the dead of night, we started imagining the worst things possible to see, like bashed up corpses creeping out of the bushes and onto the bonnet screaming "HELP ME" or little dead girls floating across the fields and such like.. yeah, were not all there.. Also there was the classic alien abduction horrors, or seeing ourselves walk towards us saying 'do you recognise us?' Anyway, Bird was describing some zombie hick smashing onto the bonnet, when he came out with the classic and now immortal line "ReCogNisE Maa FACE?? - You OughTa - ITS YOUR ASS!!" Absolutely f*@ckin cracked me up and I still laugh about it.. I guess you gotta be there huh..
ANYWAY, I'm digressing. Last Week Nick was back in the field with Mutley when they discovered the mutilated and stripped corpse of what he originally (and texted me) though was a whippet but later concluded it was a fox. More horrific photos were taken, but this thing was eaten good!! All its claws had been ripped off, its face and hide was left, but every bone had been stripped completely. Ribs everywhere, not broken but (licked) clean. It had good teeth so wasn't an old fox. and no maggotts and things to suggest it had been there long. After looking at the pics I reckon that thing had been killed and eaten by something. Its neckbone was crushed in, but the rest of the bones intact. The actual tail had been stripped from the tailbone. Gross but true. I don't know what eats foxes?
Oh, and while I remember you can email us on the following address should you wish to (take out the spaces, trying to stop auto spam..
s i m o n @ e z b e t . c o . u k
Its late, I gotta sleep, so I'll catch up later. By for now.
Its Simon back here, Nicks not online at the moment so I'll give you a rough rundown of whats been happening and then he can fill you in when he gets his arse round to the computer.
Firstly about three weeks ago Nick was walking Mutley round by the Badgers head site and saw a Large browny black feline animal walking across the field. Quite a distance but he put his digital camera onto video mode and tried to capture it on film. Unfortunately it wasn't quite up to the job but it at least gives an idea of perspective and distance. I think at this point (and if I remember correctly Mutzo was regretting not wearing brown fur so they set off back to the Van quick sharp. I think around this time Nick had also spoken to a farmer who mentioned that he had also found a mutilated Badger..
Anyway, before long, in fact only a few days later Nick (or Birdman as he is known.. but thats another story) was back in the same place and sure enough same thing again.. Still too far away but hes convinced it was too big for a cat or fox but had the low feline body and tale.. hmm the plot thickens...
Kev Nick and I had also had a few late night jaunts in the area (well, I say jaunts but we didn't go steaming 'in country' like nutters, in fact we rarely left the motor!) unfortunately the weather in essex has been shite, so not much was seen - although much QT was drunk and the even some more tasty sando's were consumed.. It was a good excuse to get out the house and have a chat if nothing else.
.. there was a hilarious moment somewhere in 'Hicksville' the middle of nowhere lost and parked by a field in the dead of night, we started imagining the worst things possible to see, like bashed up corpses creeping out of the bushes and onto the bonnet screaming "HELP ME" or little dead girls floating across the fields and such like.. yeah, were not all there.. Also there was the classic alien abduction horrors, or seeing ourselves walk towards us saying 'do you recognise us?' Anyway, Bird was describing some zombie hick smashing onto the bonnet, when he came out with the classic and now immortal line "ReCogNisE Maa FACE?? - You OughTa - ITS YOUR ASS!!" Absolutely f*@ckin cracked me up and I still laugh about it.. I guess you gotta be there huh..
ANYWAY, I'm digressing. Last Week Nick was back in the field with Mutley when they discovered the mutilated and stripped corpse of what he originally (and texted me) though was a whippet but later concluded it was a fox. More horrific photos were taken, but this thing was eaten good!! All its claws had been ripped off, its face and hide was left, but every bone had been stripped completely. Ribs everywhere, not broken but (licked) clean. It had good teeth so wasn't an old fox. and no maggotts and things to suggest it had been there long. After looking at the pics I reckon that thing had been killed and eaten by something. Its neckbone was crushed in, but the rest of the bones intact. The actual tail had been stripped from the tailbone. Gross but true. I don't know what eats foxes?
Oh, and while I remember you can email us on the following address should you wish to (take out the spaces, trying to stop auto spam..
s i m o n @ e z b e t . c o . u k
Its late, I gotta sleep, so I'll catch up later. By for now.
Thursday, November 27, 2003
nick here, just a quick update,
went up site 1 today(i know i said i'd learnt but insanity keeps callin me!) to walk mutley,this time i was armed with a massai spear(after consulting my 'excuses to the police' handbook i found no viable reason why i should be walking through the essex countryside with this.....but they had to catch me first right?,and i'd rather be arrested than eaten!)so i was prepared in a point at each end kinda stylee!
alas i didn't see anything untoward(apart from noticing the badgers head had disappeared...?).
after a lengthy search of the immediate area around the b.h site, i found what appeared to be a natural
den like construction!? whilst consulting my brain to see if it wanted to have a look, something heavy sounding bolted from the back area of the den!!! in a flash i was round the back and runnin after
whatever it was(i think my spear gave me an air of nonchalence),it was very quick...very large sounding...and i didn't see anything over the bracken as i was on the chase? badger? surely not in
daylight....and it wasn't a sett for sure..deer? as i said i couldn't get a visual(have to stop eating those
weird looking fungi) and in my experience deers leap as they are runnin from danger(especially through
thigh rasping bracken!).......the beast???
went up site 1 today(i know i said i'd learnt but insanity keeps callin me!) to walk mutley,this time i was armed with a massai spear(after consulting my 'excuses to the police' handbook i found no viable reason why i should be walking through the essex countryside with this.....but they had to catch me first right?,and i'd rather be arrested than eaten!)so i was prepared in a point at each end kinda stylee!
alas i didn't see anything untoward(apart from noticing the badgers head had disappeared...?).
after a lengthy search of the immediate area around the b.h site, i found what appeared to be a natural
den like construction!? whilst consulting my brain to see if it wanted to have a look, something heavy sounding bolted from the back area of the den!!! in a flash i was round the back and runnin after
whatever it was(i think my spear gave me an air of nonchalence),it was very quick...very large sounding...and i didn't see anything over the bracken as i was on the chase? badger? surely not in
daylight....and it wasn't a sett for sure..deer? as i said i couldn't get a visual(have to stop eating those
weird looking fungi) and in my experience deers leap as they are runnin from danger(especially through
thigh rasping bracken!).......the beast???
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Nick here, just got back from a walk up site 1, thought i'd take my dog(crazycollie) for a wander incase there were any new developments (i know, foolish on my own, but i was feeling dispensible/brave...don't know which?)
i took a different route to check out two waterholes shown on the map,thinking it would be an ideal time to look for footprints as it had rained alot lately. After looking around, then pretending to be a scarecrow whilst the farmer drove by, i decided to move on to where i'd seen the previous 'prints'.
I took the field walk partly to check for 'kills' and partly to have ample reaction time-just in case!
As we approached the first wood my dog stopped,she didn't seem too keen on the wood and after vigorous sniffing and wimpering started edging back into the field? Funnily enough this has only ever happened once before on our walks together,after finding the deer carcass,and funnily enough(although i was struggling to find the 'funny side' by now)it was the same patch of wood!
Then for about ten minutes,what seemed like all the birds and pheasants in the wood started shrieking together,this scared mutley even more and started to put me on edge,so i stood back and waited eyes ever alert!
All of a sudden they stopped in unison! I would stand up in court(so would my pants if i'd of stayed there much longer)and swear on oath that i heard footprints in the wood,not being able to see anything at human/deer level i looked at mutley and in a strangely comical moment(especially if she could talk)we froze,then panicked,then ran!
My primal instinct kicked in and seemed to be yelling 'look behind you'(unfortunately not that easy when running across a muddy, tractor rutted field!)
We stopped after two fields and scanned the area........nothing!
I've never known my dog to move so 'quickly' back to the van after a walk,she normally dawdles trying to enjoy every last second-not today,and i must admit i was quite happy about that!
What 'it' was i can only surmise,but theres alot of 'coincedences' going on down there,i've certainly learnt two things today-never walk down there on your own,and always trust a dog's senses above your own-even if it gives you heartburn,nausea and a twisted ankle!! Now wheres the phone number for that gym..........
i took a different route to check out two waterholes shown on the map,thinking it would be an ideal time to look for footprints as it had rained alot lately. After looking around, then pretending to be a scarecrow whilst the farmer drove by, i decided to move on to where i'd seen the previous 'prints'.
I took the field walk partly to check for 'kills' and partly to have ample reaction time-just in case!
As we approached the first wood my dog stopped,she didn't seem too keen on the wood and after vigorous sniffing and wimpering started edging back into the field? Funnily enough this has only ever happened once before on our walks together,after finding the deer carcass,and funnily enough(although i was struggling to find the 'funny side' by now)it was the same patch of wood!
Then for about ten minutes,what seemed like all the birds and pheasants in the wood started shrieking together,this scared mutley even more and started to put me on edge,so i stood back and waited eyes ever alert!
All of a sudden they stopped in unison! I would stand up in court(so would my pants if i'd of stayed there much longer)and swear on oath that i heard footprints in the wood,not being able to see anything at human/deer level i looked at mutley and in a strangely comical moment(especially if she could talk)we froze,then panicked,then ran!
My primal instinct kicked in and seemed to be yelling 'look behind you'(unfortunately not that easy when running across a muddy, tractor rutted field!)
We stopped after two fields and scanned the area........nothing!
I've never known my dog to move so 'quickly' back to the van after a walk,she normally dawdles trying to enjoy every last second-not today,and i must admit i was quite happy about that!
What 'it' was i can only surmise,but theres alot of 'coincedences' going on down there,i've certainly learnt two things today-never walk down there on your own,and always trust a dog's senses above your own-even if it gives you heartburn,nausea and a twisted ankle!! Now wheres the phone number for that gym..........
OK, Si here, quick update - check this out. Nick is in the Woods near Badgers Head, He's just rang me to say the dogs freaking out, won't go near the woods and theres all sorts of wierd noises in there.. Just wanted to post this incase he gets 'chomped' you heard it here first :)
I'll keep it updated when I hear more, If all is fine (I hope!) Nick can update later....
Cross your fingers.
I'll keep it updated when I hear more, If all is fine (I hope!) Nick can update later....
Cross your fingers.
Sunday, November 16, 2003
nick here,
thought i'd tell you about our latest jaunt on friday nite....
Myself,Si and Kev decided to try another 'beast' stake out, this time we were prepared! Having swotted-up all week on big cat facts-behaviour,hunting moves, growls and calls etc(the latter giving us the heebie-jeebies even in the relative safety of kevs car). We were also better equiped, instead of machete's and flame throwers we opted for the king of all spotlights(this baby would guide a mothership down to earth to within a cats whisker,ahem....no pun intended)purchased by kev-(the guys more prepared than a tessa's ham salad sandwich!),and a round each of beef,mushroom and mayo sarnies, and of course the obligatory flask of QT(a life saver in its own right!)
So back to the "badgers head"-site 1,all we saw were some rabbits, a few fallow deer and some weird green dots floating around in the sky(quickly deduced as my inability to stop pointing the beam in Si and Kevs eyes-ok....so i found it amusing!)-we decided to move on.
We circled the area thought to be the 'beasts' haunt, stopping at various fields en-route to give them a quick sweep with the spotlight, after seeing a few more deers,and alot of rabbits-we stumbled on a curious beast-a muntjack deer-to which Kev in particular took a strange liking to,he seemed to be salivating whilst tying a napkin around his neck!-never has there been a more edible looking creature!! after a long winded cookery discussion,we took 5 to re-access our mission,and eat our sarnies(possibly the one thing that saved the muntjack!)
Although it seemed a pointless night, we reassured ourselves that it only takes one fresh print or glimpse of the beast to put us hot on its tail-and obviously alot of patience-several bucket loads in fact! Then comes the "cat-trap"! something we'll discuss when the time comes.....and when we've found a "friendly butcher"- if indeed such a thing exists!?
thought i'd tell you about our latest jaunt on friday nite....
Myself,Si and Kev decided to try another 'beast' stake out, this time we were prepared! Having swotted-up all week on big cat facts-behaviour,hunting moves, growls and calls etc(the latter giving us the heebie-jeebies even in the relative safety of kevs car). We were also better equiped, instead of machete's and flame throwers we opted for the king of all spotlights(this baby would guide a mothership down to earth to within a cats whisker,ahem....no pun intended)purchased by kev-(the guys more prepared than a tessa's ham salad sandwich!),and a round each of beef,mushroom and mayo sarnies, and of course the obligatory flask of QT(a life saver in its own right!)
So back to the "badgers head"-site 1,all we saw were some rabbits, a few fallow deer and some weird green dots floating around in the sky(quickly deduced as my inability to stop pointing the beam in Si and Kevs eyes-ok....so i found it amusing!)-we decided to move on.
We circled the area thought to be the 'beasts' haunt, stopping at various fields en-route to give them a quick sweep with the spotlight, after seeing a few more deers,and alot of rabbits-we stumbled on a curious beast-a muntjack deer-to which Kev in particular took a strange liking to,he seemed to be salivating whilst tying a napkin around his neck!-never has there been a more edible looking creature!! after a long winded cookery discussion,we took 5 to re-access our mission,and eat our sarnies(possibly the one thing that saved the muntjack!)
Although it seemed a pointless night, we reassured ourselves that it only takes one fresh print or glimpse of the beast to put us hot on its tail-and obviously alot of patience-several bucket loads in fact! Then comes the "cat-trap"! something we'll discuss when the time comes.....and when we've found a "friendly butcher"- if indeed such a thing exists!?
Saturday, November 15, 2003
OK, so whats been happening lately. Well, we decided we should get back out there and scope the area. SO.. about 2:00am one Saturday morning I hooked up with Nick and Kev and drove down to badgers head. We got out the car and looked over the first field next to the woods. Nervous as hell we shone the car lights over the field and two glowing eyes shone back from the far end.. Gulp, then as we watched there was another pair. Not wanting to get too excited Kev (always prepared this guy.. you will see..) brought out his binoculars. (good thinking that man) As I looked down the field in the dark, I spotted a light 'blob' no wait, two pairs of eyes - one body!! A f*cking two headed alien with STALK NECKS!! WOT? No - the pairs of eyes parted and in the end we concluded it was two deer... The next move was to walk down to badgers head. We didn't have any weapons apart from a few tiny lock knives, probably not much of a match for ten centimeter razor claws and the massive K9's of a 80 pound cougar!! As we got further in to the field we all got considerably more uncomfortable. When we finally got to Badgers head we were close to the woods and far from the safety of the car. I could imagine the beast staring from the woods thinking about what my face might taste like. The walk back to the car was more than a little quicker than the walk there and I reckon everyone was a bit happier when we arrived. We checked some other field out and drove to our (mine and Kevs) original sighting a few years ago. Nothing out of the ordinary tonight, although Nicks flask of QT was particularly tasty!!
The Next week (last week) Nick was working near some farms and had a chat with the farmer. The farmer reckoned that in all his 35 years in the fields he had never seen or heard of anything killing or eating a badger. In fact he reckoned even dead badgers just stay and rot, nothing ever tries to munch on them. Hmmm... Theres more from yesterday, but I need to get to bed - perhaps I'll let Nick fill in the next chapter..... Bye for now.
The Next week (last week) Nick was working near some farms and had a chat with the farmer. The farmer reckoned that in all his 35 years in the fields he had never seen or heard of anything killing or eating a badger. In fact he reckoned even dead badgers just stay and rot, nothing ever tries to munch on them. Hmmm... Theres more from yesterday, but I need to get to bed - perhaps I'll let Nick fill in the next chapter..... Bye for now.
Tuesday, November 11, 2003
11th nov 2003
After being talked about so much, i thought i'd better do some talking myself!
Nick here, (the one with the hypocollie)! i returned to the badger site today,armed with a digital camera(i thought long and hard about the boots/police saga an decided to trash the film!)and ready to get sum evidence.
still feels eerie down there,although it was easier not having a 'buddy' scaring the bejesus out of me,so i didnt stay that long. i got some photos of some large pawprints,scat and 2 killsites,one the badger and the other a pheasant-the feathers not only appeared to be ripped off but also sliced halfway up,culda been a fox i know but its within 100meters of the badger and quite messy so its worth considering.
after getting some snaps i decided to skirt the whole area in my van,find out any other ways in etc,unfortunately its real hard looking and driving so as you can imagine i was chugging along quite slowly and the policeman followin decided i was casing potential jobs-hence he pulled me over! anyway after a long embarrasing conversation(you try explainin that your looking for a big cat possibly a puma to a guy whos got you down as a thief or even worse!),we finally got things sorted out without the need for back-up,and it turns out he was called to a puma siting just last month in brentwood! a kid had phoned the police saying he'd seen a puma-like animal by a ditch just outside brentwood,when the officer got to the scene he found a mutilated deer carcass in the ditch! i tried to get some more info out of him but he turned to go muttering that he had motorists to fine or something?! typical! the quest continues.....
After being talked about so much, i thought i'd better do some talking myself!
Nick here, (the one with the hypocollie)! i returned to the badger site today,armed with a digital camera(i thought long and hard about the boots/police saga an decided to trash the film!)and ready to get sum evidence.
still feels eerie down there,although it was easier not having a 'buddy' scaring the bejesus out of me,so i didnt stay that long. i got some photos of some large pawprints,scat and 2 killsites,one the badger and the other a pheasant-the feathers not only appeared to be ripped off but also sliced halfway up,culda been a fox i know but its within 100meters of the badger and quite messy so its worth considering.
after getting some snaps i decided to skirt the whole area in my van,find out any other ways in etc,unfortunately its real hard looking and driving so as you can imagine i was chugging along quite slowly and the policeman followin decided i was casing potential jobs-hence he pulled me over! anyway after a long embarrasing conversation(you try explainin that your looking for a big cat possibly a puma to a guy whos got you down as a thief or even worse!),we finally got things sorted out without the need for back-up,and it turns out he was called to a puma siting just last month in brentwood! a kid had phoned the police saying he'd seen a puma-like animal by a ditch just outside brentwood,when the officer got to the scene he found a mutilated deer carcass in the ditch! i tried to get some more info out of him but he turned to go muttering that he had motorists to fine or something?! typical! the quest continues.....
