Okay, so the above headline sounds like something out of a national newspaper, but sometimes...just sometimes, these type of headlines are accurate. On Monday 27th February 2012 a Mr Donnelly was driving around the lanes of Dover Castle. After having visited the Duke of Yorks school, he'd turned right towards Castle Hill and headed past Broadless Farm. It was around 9:10 am. After heading down a down in the road Mr Donnelly decided, like so many people, to stop the car in a lay-by and admire the beautiful view, one which takes in the the rolling fields and channel waters. When looking to the right of a field Mr Donnelly noticed a large black cat slinking across the ground - it must've have been 300 or so yards away. At such a distance the animal was far too big to be domestic cat - the body was stocky, and around 3ft in length and added to this was a long, thick tail. The animal began creeping through the long grass near the Napoleonic Fort, down a bank towards the field. The witness watched the animal for a full minute then decided to reach for his binoculars but the animal was lost in the undergrowth.

The witness, like so many others was adamant that what he'd seen was a large black cat - not a feral or domestic, but an exotic cat - a black leopard. This isn't the first time such an animal has been seen in the area. A few months ago six people watched a massive, muscular black cat at 6:00 one morning as it slinked near the fort. Over the last few months there have been numerous reports at Western Heights - one incident involved a man walking his dog near the docks when he was aware of a presence in the bushes a few feet away which disturbed his small dog. When he looked he noticed a thick set, black animal crouched in the bushes - its eyes reflected a bright yellow, and it hissed. The witness backed off slowly and then ran. A few years ago an architect working at Dover found some unusual faeces in a tunnel. He said that when they were sent off for analysis they came back as belonging to a leopard.

Each year Dover Castle attracts thousands of visitors - but the surrounding areas of the castle are disused, there are ditches, tunnels and numerous overgrown areas which a large, elusive cat could use to hunt and hide. I wonder how many visitors to the castle have seen such an animal but have never reported it ?

There has been opinion that the animals seen around much of East Kent are escapees from zoo parks. This seems unlikely in the modern day as the local zoo parks do not house puma or black leopard, and Wildwood near Herne Bay only have lynx and the wildcat. Even so, it may be worth looking at the newspaper clipping I've included here, as proof that some animals do still escape from zoo parks and private collections. I go into more detail regarding Dover, Deal sightings in my book MYSTERY ANIMALS OF THE BRITISH ISLES: KENT

Protests about the proposed route of High Speed 2 from London to the Midlands and the North will provoke hollow laughter in Kent. I remember reporting on marches from South Darenth and Sutton-at-Hone that demonstrated fierce opposition to the initial route.

There was the admission that a map had been drawn up on an official’s dining room table using out of date information and putting the route through a new housing estate near Blue Bell Hill, Chatham. When a Mid Kent Parkway station was proposed between Medway and Maidstone, there was an outcry that the “green lung” would be removed and prompt the creation of a “Medstone” or “Maidway” conurbation.

There was dismay with the proposal to put the link down the pretty Nashenden Valley. When construction started, there was outrage over the “scar on the landscape.”

I can hardly remember a good thing being said about the proposed railway, wherever it went. Maidstone council bowed to this anti-sentiment and voted not to have anything to do with what eventually became HS1 And yet, and yet...

Taking a lesson from the French city of Lille, which battled for the TGV line to go through its heart, Ashford council fought tooth and nail to have the service re-routed through the centre of the town. Look what that decision has done to the prosperity and potential of the town.

Commuter journeys have been transformed. Look at the potential for regeneration in Dover, Margate and Folkestone from the presence of what is a brilliant service on state-of-the-art Hitachi trains. Look at the great advertisement for the county. Kent, a railway back-marker since the 1800s, is no longer on the wrong side of the tracks.

While third-rail trains were stuck in the snow, HS1 kept on rolling. More than seven million passengers took HS1 in its first year and I bet that figure will be a lot higher next year. It is a powerful economic driver for the county, raises our game and is proving a powerful incentive for firms to move to the county.

Just as 19th century steam trains and track came to blend into the countryside, with pressure groups lobbying to preserve threatened lines, so the railway that sparked so much protest in Mid and North West Kent is now part of our landscape. Nothing much to protest about now. The engineers did a great job.

Maidstone is left on the sidelines, now pleading for a high-speed station that was once there for the taking. Prosperity is slowly shifting to Ashford and will in time flow to Dover, Margate and Folkestone. House prices will rise disproportionately in towns with good access to the trains. A Manston Parkway station is on the cards.

HS2 protesters should look to the Kent experience and see that while they should ensure the route is tweaked here and there, and tunnelled under beautiful places, there is so much to gain from high-speed rail in terms of greener travel and greater convenience in a modern world. Things we fear in advance often come to be loved. In a 100 years’ time, HS2 and HS1 will be celebrated as much as the steam railways of another era.

FA Cup upset: Dover winning against Gillingham FC 2-0,

Dover MP Charlie Elphicke, supported by Dame Vera Lynn, launches a community bid to buy the port of Dover for £4million. Dame Vera Lynn at the launch, by TERRY SCOTT.

Eighty-two balls in the hat for the FA Cup draw but it always seemed destined that Gillingham would be paired with Dover.

I’m sure Andy Hessenthaler and co had hoped Dover fans would have forgotten what happened in the summer and moved on.

But it appears not.

Dover need no incentive now on Tuesday night to win their FA Cup replay against Farnborough and set up what will be a cracking first round tie at Gillingham.

Whites fans will be hoping Martin Hayes and his team can dish out a bit of revenge after Hessenthaler left Crabble to return to Priestfield.

I don’t think anyone can really blame Hess for leaving, but what appears to still rankle with them is what happened afterwards, particularly the decision of Ian Hendon to leave just weeks after "joining" them as manager.

The problem is that Hendon never signed a deal (despite sitting with Whites chairman Jim Parmenter with pen in hand at a press conference to unveil him as manager!) and weeks later hot-footed it over to Priestfield to link up with Hessenthaler.

Nicky Southall followed and so did Darren Hare but who can blame them?

Dover are a great club and going places but as a professional you’ve got to aim high. Hessy did a good job at Dover and deserved another crack at the Gills job so why the hysteria?

Most managers have a team of trusted people that they keep close to them and that is no different than Hessenthaler. He and Hendon have been close since their Barnet days, and probably before that. Football can be a murky world and so it’s best to have people you can rely on close at hand.

It was a messy situation in the summer without a doubt but, like the Dover chairman said this week, it’s all worked out well in the end and Martin is doing the business so far at Crabble.

I’m sure that if Dover get through to play the Gills those Whites fans will be quick to attack Hess and co, but should they? I don’t think so.

Someone called me naive previously for saying such a thing but that’s football. We all have differing opinions.

I can’t see what is wrong with having ambition in the game and moving onwards and upwards. All Ian Hendon did was weight up his options and choose Gillingham. How it ever got to the stage where there was a press conference to announce him as manager before a deal had been signed is for others to answer.

Good luck to Dover on Tuesday, it’s great to have so much Kent involvement in the cup and congrats to Scott Porter and his Hythe team for making it this far.

Roll on November 6.

Unite Union members marching to oppose privatisation of the Port of Dover, by TERRY SCOTT.

Pupils at Christ Church Academy in Dover protest about the changes to their lunchtime, by MARTIN APPS.