Long-legged cat rears it,s little head

I took the call on wednesday at 12.10,the lady in question was sincere and before her sighting,a sceptic,accurate with the facts she describes "a cheetah-like cat but smaller,labrodor sized,very slim,longlegged with a question mark tail and it was fawn coloured".After the 10 minute call i was on the phone to Paul at Midhurst and hats off to him for within an hour and a half he was there at the site getting a statement from the witness.Now when i hear"like a cheetah,very slim,longlegged"it doesn,t happen often but when it does it screams out to me my old friend the Longlegged cat and this type of bigcat excites me like no other.All plans are off for the next day and after i set the cam up at Redford we make the 3 mile journey along narrow,sunken,ancient cartway roads to Iping.Finding the spot where the lady pointed she had seen the cat the day before,a clear narrow trail down the bank to the road and up the bank to the other side is seen and poking about looking for pawprints and fur,i noticed,no not pawprints but almost better,some fawn coloured fur wrapped around the blackberry stem barbs.There was quite a lot which would suggest this path was well used,taking samples,there was some both sides of the track,it had a peculiar softness and didn,t have the tri-colour of fox fur,in all my years at this game i have never come across any fur this colour or texture.The sample will be tested and photographed and i hope to blog the pictures for open view.The country here is more open than that at Redford,it,s cultivated heathland but rolling with deep valleys and narrow streams,useless for finding pawprints,but the thick,mixed woodland and grass fields hold ample deer and rabbits and,being Sussex.a pheasant shoot wouldn,t be far away.Sightings in the general area also include larger leopard type cats which supports my theory of these types coexisting or at least their territorys overlapping,but with the Longlegged cat favouring more open ground.....