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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

What did we see this afternoon?

270 replies

whatwasthiscritter · 07/11/2022 20:25

I have name changed as my other threads had medical things on them and this is completely identifying. I was driving from radstock towards Burlington Combe today at about 4.15 when we were going through some woods (marked with arrow on the map). Something ran ibfront of the car. I say ran but it almost stumbled/tumbled across the road from left to right. I only saw it in the road but my 17 year old Dd saw it then run up the bank in the trees on the right. We have no idea what we saw and the way it moved at first made me think it was a big sycamore leaf but as my DD saw it climb the bank this has been discounted. We have looked at endless photos of British wildlife etc but can't place it. The description is that is was a sandy/pale yellow colour (hence the leaf thought) it was bigger than a hedgehog or a rat but smaller than a hare. It was fast as it past the road between the car in front and mine and then climbed the bank. What on earth could it be?! It is made all the weirder because I saw a creature further along that road a couple of months ago that I can't work out either. Slightly cat like but much bigger and black, this time it was early morning and my Dd was asleep and doesn't believe me. My Dds only solution is that we keep passing through a magical wood (grasping at straws)

OP posts:
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17
whatwasthiscritter · 07/11/2022 20:40

It would have been a teeny tiny bison!

OP posts:
LynetteScavo · 07/11/2022 20:41

Google tells me: Where do wild boar live?
The current UK boar population is derived from captive animals that either escaped or were illegally released. An estimated 2,600 animals are now living wild in several breeding populations. The largest of these is in the Forest of Dean, but wild boar are also present in parts of South East and South West England, South East Wales and North West Scotland.

Autumnmoonshines · 07/11/2022 20:41

Not sure about the rat really. Definitely have a long tail though.

Im confused as you said possibly a big cat but size of a sycamore leaf?

bet you wish you had some kind of dashcam footage

goodmourning · 07/11/2022 20:42

neverknowinglyunreasonable · 07/11/2022 20:29

Sounds like a panther. Plenty of sightings in the UK.

a yellow panther smaller than a hare?!

LynetteScavo · 07/11/2022 20:42

A big escaped guineapig?

LynetteScavo · 07/11/2022 20:43

@goodmourning - the OP has seen 2 different creatures

cardibach · 07/11/2022 20:44

neverknowinglyunreasonable · 07/11/2022 20:29

Sounds like a panther. Plenty of sightings in the UK.

Sized between a hedgehog and a hare? I don’t think that’s a panther.

cardibach · 07/11/2022 20:46

whatwasthiscritter · 07/11/2022 20:36

@neverknowinglyunreasonable I feel like it was a big cat, it went across the road from field to field but everyone has told me I was nuts!

You have also said it was smaller than a hare. That’s not a big cat. Not even a really big domestic cat.

cardibach · 07/11/2022 20:46

LynetteScavo · 07/11/2022 20:41

Google tells me: Where do wild boar live?
The current UK boar population is derived from captive animals that either escaped or were illegally released. An estimated 2,600 animals are now living wild in several breeding populations. The largest of these is in the Forest of Dean, but wild boar are also present in parts of South East and South West England, South East Wales and North West Scotland.

Smaller. Than. A. Hare.
Is nobody reading the OP?

MoominFeatures · 07/11/2022 20:49

Young muntjac???

Flamintula · 07/11/2022 20:51

Mouse deer.

OneTC · 07/11/2022 20:54

Yeah little muntjack and they're super fast

MissMCAS · 07/11/2022 20:54

daisy46 · 07/11/2022 20:39

A bison. Definitely a bison.

GrinGrinGrin You beat me to it!

Did you know it was National Bison Day at the weekend? I sat on my hands & didn't start a thread on it.

dearhummingbirds · 07/11/2022 20:59

I think a little Reeves Muntjac too.

LynetteScavo · 07/11/2022 21:02

@cardibach - baby boar are much smaller than a hare. Some maple leaves are massive (there a tree near outside where I work with really, really large leaves) And I once saw a massive hare, but not in the UK.

Soundofshuna · 07/11/2022 21:02

A mink?
I ran over a stoat on the M5 near you quite recently.( or possibly a weasel) I was rather sad!

comfortablyfrumpy · 07/11/2022 21:02

Siberian Hamster? :😁

BEAM123 · 07/11/2022 21:03

I saw something a few weeks back that sounds similar, it looked like a brown rabbit but with short ears, and it walked (well, ran across the road) on 4 legs rather than hopping. That's East Anglia. I was so confused!

VollywoodHampires · 07/11/2022 21:03

Skinnermarink · 07/11/2022 20:33

A weasel is tiny, basically a furry pencil.

😂😂😂

Soundofshuna · 07/11/2022 21:03

Or a ferret? Apparently they turn yellow if oil problems

DNBU · 07/11/2022 21:04

Muntjac.

Prescottdanni123 · 07/11/2022 21:05

If rats are leucistic (they have some melanin but not as much as they should have) then they can be sandy coloured. Could be an escaped pet rat or the result of a pet rat breeding with a wild rat?

A rather far fetched suggestion but an escaped guinea pig?

Definitely a mammal? Some species of birds, when you just get a glimpse of them can be mistaken for small mammals and vice versa.

mnahmnah · 07/11/2022 21:05

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO NOT MENTION THE BISON. Please. Thank you.

JedEye · 07/11/2022 21:06

Could it have been a bird? I saw what I thought was a big black rat run up the tree in my garden. I stood watching for a while and it turned out to be a cute blackbird swooping up from the grass

A bird could have flown low down in front of your car and swooped up the bank?

Skyrimisveryrelaxing · 07/11/2022 21:07

Minature bison

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