How to identify a wildcat

The diagram below has been adapted from one found on a website [ savingwildcats.org.uk ] about wildcats written by Gordon Buchanan, wildlife film-maker and presenter.

I have found it very useful and hopefully it will help anyone else who sees a possible wildcat.

wildcat ID


wildcat: sighting 1, 18th September 2023, Spain
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Larger and more plump than a domestic cat. Probably a male. It was alone.
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It has small ears.
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Thick tail with a black tip and rings.
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This wildcat was seen on the Honduras Pass (1400m), north-east of Plasencia, Spain.


wildcat: sighting 2, 11th June 2025, Spain
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First observed from distance by the side of a quiet country road a few miles west of Herrera de Pisuerga, northern Spain.
wildcat
It had an unknown number of young and seemed to have made home in a roadside culvert.
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If there were no young the cat would have almost certainly run off but it stayed to protect its young and keep an eye on us!
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wildcat wildcat
Text-book photo of female wildcat.