I take my dog for a countryside walk before dawn each day and am used to seeing fox and deer by the light of my torch - usually just the eyes but the whole animal if they are close enough. Four times in the last month I have seen what I believe to be a puma. The first couple of times I just saw the eyes and they just didn't behave like deer eyes (the deer are usually in a small herd and this animal crouched when the torch alighted on their eyes - deer don't do that). Yesterday, now armed with a very powerful torch (Olight Javelot Pro), I saw the animal about 50m away - a little bigger than a Labrador (longer and sleeker) with a light coloured coat. It slunk away with feline grace and watched me from afar as I continued my walk. There is a large cat sanctuary about 1 mile and I contacted the owner - based on my description, he believes it is one of three female pumas believed to have been released several years ago. Big cat sightings in the St Albans and Welwyn area are not uncommon.
I saw it again this morning, watching (presumably sizing up!) a small group of deer and want to get some pictures of it - I have asked the landowner whether I can set up an infrared camera in the place I have seen it several times but he has not said yes yet. So I want to get some sort of camera or camcorder that could image this animal in darkness about a 40-50m away. I have seen a few camcorders on Amazon, but have no idea whether they would lead to a decent image.
I would prefer a sharp still to a grainy video so maybe there are suitable still cameras? I don't really want to spend more than, say, 200gbp and would appreciate any advice.
Cheers
Jon