The prospect of big cats on the prowl in west Dorset will come under the spotlight in Bridport.

Expert Merrily Harpur is giving a talk to the west Dorset group of the Dorset Wildlife Trust entitled Big Cats – Wild in Dorset.

She will be giving her findings in the illustrated talk at the United Chu-rch in East Street on Friday February 5 at 7.30pm.

Merrily, who lives in Cattistock, has been studying the subject for many years and maintains an active website which records and reports sightings.

She also has two books to her credit on the subject, called Mystery Bug Cats and Roaring Dorset! Encounters with Big Cats.

It comes as new figures obtained by the Dorset Echo and the News show that a total of 53 people have made emergency calls to report their wild cat encounters since 2006.

The most recent sighting given to police came in February from a caller who claimed to have seen a big cat which was ‘totally black’ and ‘stocky’ with a ‘very long tail’ in Sherford, Wareham.

A month earlier an informant called to report a sighting of a large cat which ‘looks like a panther’ in the Power-stock area, near Bridport.

One caller claimed a ‘lioness’ was seen ‘lying in the grass’ in October 2008 in Sturminster Newton.

While seven callers dialled to warn police after spotting a mysterious creature in the Weymouth area, three people reported sightings from Dorchester during the last five years. Merrily said: “There have been a lot of big cat sightings reported in the county over the years.

“Dorset is a hot spot for big cat sightings. In the last couple of years I have been told of more than 300 sightings. One of the interesting things about big cats in Britain is that they are very variable in their colours.

“Around 85 per cent of sightings report a black cat but quite a few say they resemble a panther-like creature or are brown like a puma.

“But there’s a whole range of other animals that vary in colour from brindled to gingery.

“Anyone who glimpses these creatures for more than a few seconds is very lucky and I would urge people in these areas to carry a camera.”

She added: “There are a lot of big cats in Dorset and all over the country.”

A spokesman for Dorset Police said: “We encourage members of the public to take a common sense approach to any such incidents and to call the police non-emergency number, 101, in the first instance.

“Dorset police urge people to use the 999 number in an emergency, when a crime is in progress or life is at risk.”

The talk is open to all and is £2 for DWT members and £3 for visitors.

Visit Merrily’s website at dorsetbigcats.org