It seems the recently reported sighting of something mysterious on the surface of Loch Ness – deemed to be the first Nessie sighting of the year – has been revealed to be nothing more than a couple of paddleboarders.
Watersport fans and pals Richie Cameron and Stephen Noble, both 45, say they were on the loch with their boards at the same time as the alleged sighting by Irish man Eoin O'Faodhagain, who reported that he'd spotted two objects moving parallel to each other on the loch's surface.
But Richie, who runs Extreme Paddle Boarding Scotland, spoke to the Ladbible stated on hearing about the webcam watcher's report, he said: "I don’t want to rain on your parade pal, but not this time.”
The report has since been removed from the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register after doubt was cast on the sighting.
Speaking about the webcam clip, Nessie hunter Steve Feltham, who has been living on the shore and watching the loch for 31 years in a bid to solve the mystery, stated that images from the live cam can't be considered evidence of anything at all because the quality of the images are "so poor" – adding that at best it can be used to decide whether it is "night or day".
Speaking about the sheer volume of webcam sightings, Steve added that there have been no corroborating sightings from people actually on or around the loch, he said: "This one person has claimed at least 13 sightings of Nessie from this webcam.
"On none of these occasions have any of the hundreds of people visiting Urquhart Castle which is right next to the webcam, ever reported seeing anything unusual on the water.
"And that's even though some of his sightings lasted for the best part of five minutes, that doesn't make sense to me.
"Unfortunately all these webcam images are of such poor quality that it is pure guesswork to try and identify anything, as shown by this sighting getting proven to be two people on paddleboards, that says it all really."
He added that he believes the webcam sightings do "far more damage than good" to the credibility of this "world-famous mystery".
Eoin's sighting has now subsequently been replaced by a second report – considered to now be the first official sighting of 2022 – by documentary maker Jamie Huntley.
Visiting from Tyne and Wear, he and colleague Warren Speed say they spotted a large object/creature in the loch, with what looked like "whale skin crossed with a fish skin", on the morning of March 30.
Jamie stated that they'd been driving past Boleskine cemetery when they spotted the "huge" object but were only able to capture the ripples in the aftermath of its passing on camera.
He said: "The object/creature was reflecting the water so looked wet, almost like a whale skin crossed with a fish skin it was dark in colour darker than the water surrounding it.
"There were dark greys, blacks, browns in colour – it almost looked like how a whale hump might look breaking the surface minus the fin.
"There was a definite movement but didn't see too much of it before trees obscured it, it was a very big size at least 15 feet long, maybe bigger, around the middle of the loch."
He estimated the part of the object that was above the water to be around 7 feet in height.
Speaking about the newer sighting, Nessie expert Steve said he is far more convinced by this incident than the earlier webcam one, he said: "It's maybe not the best ever report, but having spoken to both the witnesses in person I am convinced of their honesty and confusion at what it could possibly be that they witnessed."
Steve has now called for the webcam sightings to be ignored by fans of the monster from around the globe.
He added: "These unidentifiable blobs and shadows that get reported from the webcam occasionally make it onto the register of sightings, and then get reported in the media, meaning people around the world will look at them and think that we all must be stupid for thinking that we have any kind of mystery here at all.
"I would much prefer that nothing from this webcam was added to the register until it gets a major upgrade."
Gary Campbell, keeper of the Official Loch Ness Monster Register, has been contacted for comment.
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