A COUPLE claim to have seen a puma running through a field as they were driving along the A5104.

Alexandra Williams said she and her husband were driving into Llandegla on Saturday morning when they saw the animal, which she is convinced was a big cat.

She reported the sighting to Puma Watch North Wales, the group set up to investigate and document such sightings.

In the report, she said: “My husband and I saw a huge black cat running across a field at approximately 11.30am as we drove into Llandegla from Flintshire.

“It was definitely a big cat and we can only assume it was a puma.

“It was on what appeared to be farmland/fields on the right-hand side of the road as we headed southwards on the A5104 just before you get into Llandegla. We were obviously driving on the left-hand side of the road when we spotted it.”

Tony Jones, founder of Puma Watch North Wales, said Alexandra provided a Google Street View image to pinpoint the exact location of their sighting, an area called Ty-Hîr.

Tony said: "It’s on the fringes of moorland which covers Moel Garegog and other nearby hills, surrounded by vast expanses of open fields, and is a short distance from Llandegla Forest.

"Llandegla sits at the end of the Clwydian Range, where a small population of big cats is thought to exist. A big cat has previously been spotted on the other side of the village at the Horseshoe Pass, while multiple sightings have occurred in the Dee Valley towards Llangollen. This includes a creature caught on camera near the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct last month, which was then quickly spotted three more times by different witnesses."

Tony added: "Big cats such as pumas are solitary with a hunting range of dozens of miles. They’re mostly spotted in Snowdonia and the Clwydian hills but reports of sightings in urban locations some distance from these areas are becoming more frequent."