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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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EmmaAgain22 · 07/11/2022 21:49

OP thank you for this thread!

PreVerbalGerbil · 07/11/2022 21:49

Baby albino badger?

whatwasthiscritter · 07/11/2022 21:52

@Autumnmoonshines sorry they were 2 different sightings which led to the mystical forest hypothesis

OP posts:
BEAM123 · 07/11/2022 21:52

gogohmm · 07/11/2022 21:35

@BEAM123

Sounds like a muntjac

They are more dog sized though, I'm used to swerving those!
The one I saw looked more like a rock hyrax but they aren't native here...

thegruffalosbum · 07/11/2022 21:52

Mamarsupial · 07/11/2022 21:29

I don’t understand how you can think something the size and shape and speed of a blowing sycamore leaf could be a small bison? Or am I missing a joke?

It could have been an escaped hamster?

Orrrrr - it could have been a leaf. A different creature climbed up the bank and your daughter mistakenly thought it was the leaf!

Bison troll a few weeks ago. The jokes have been ongoing ever since.

Skinnermarink · 07/11/2022 21:53

PreVerbalGerbil · 07/11/2022 21:49

Baby albino badger?

i thought leaustic badger but badger cubs are born Jan-March, they’d all be grown now.

HotWashCycle · 07/11/2022 21:54

I have seen a black panther OP in the countryside - a really good view of one in daylight, but it was in Yorkshire. They were once said to be on Exmoor in Somerset, so may be have nigrated to the Mendips?

whatwasthiscritter · 07/11/2022 21:54

Guinea pig is the closest we could get to too but I can't understand it being a Guinea pig but then I am questioning whether it is a gremlin so...

OP posts:
whatwasthiscritter · 07/11/2022 21:56

Muntjac was an idea we had but google said that they weren't round these parts. Peppa pig world is a different paulton!

OP posts:
Flutterbybudget · 07/11/2022 21:57

I’m very confused as to how it could be a “big cat” but the size of a Guinea pig - or is there a joke about that as well?

Robekinobi · 07/11/2022 21:57

Polecat?

loveyouradvice · 07/11/2022 21:58

Im voting for a wee baby boar... they are tiny, and fast, and can be very sandy.... stripes make them look leaf-like??

Sarahzxcvb · 07/11/2022 21:58

Seems to be a few of us that live close to here.

Iv never seen anything like it. Only a few owls and deers around here.

whatwasthiscritter · 07/11/2022 21:58

@heldinadream I don't think it was a hate. If it was it was a baby one. Maybe someone is breeding little creatures to feed to their big cat?!?!?

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whatwasthiscritter · 07/11/2022 21:58

*hare ffs

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Scrowy · 07/11/2022 21:59

The black cat type one from a while ago was probably a mink or a polecat.

the one from today is most likely a polecat with light colouring - their main bodies can be quite sandy looking especially when they are moving quickly.

LadyHester · 07/11/2022 22:01

Bison.

dawngreen · 07/11/2022 22:01

The Gimp man??

EmmaAgain22 · 07/11/2022 22:02

HotWashCycle · 07/11/2022 21:54

I have seen a black panther OP in the countryside - a really good view of one in daylight, but it was in Yorkshire. They were once said to be on Exmoor in Somerset, so may be have nigrated to the Mendips?

Ooh was this recent? I read a report about a big cat in Yorkshire a month or so ago.

dawngreen · 07/11/2022 22:03

Has some bought a new pet cat with rare markings?

Pancake1Pancake2 · 07/11/2022 22:03

Mink

apintofrum · 07/11/2022 22:04

Wait though are there actually panthers running around the UK? Confused

Marcipex · 07/11/2022 22:04

There are definitely pumas in Devon.

anyhow I think muntjac too but OP PLEEEASE get a dash cam and you can show David Attenborough as well as us.

whatwasthiscritter · 07/11/2022 22:08

My DD and I have been looking at the pictures of suggested animals. Muntjac seems too big, rat seems possible but there wasn't a tail, a mouse deer or pika look right but what are the chances?!

OP posts:
viques · 07/11/2022 22:10

Skinnermarink · 07/11/2022 20:33

A weasel is tiny, basically a furry pencil.

I saw one once running along the verge of the road, really fast, really bright orange, really small.