New Nessie Photo
Posted by: Loren Coleman on September 15th, 2011
It has been a relatively active year at Loch Ness. As you may recall, a new photograph surfaced in July (see here) and now comes another one.
Jon Rowe, 31, a fish farmer, from Lewiston in Drumnadrochit, Scotland, took the newest photographs of what might be one of the Loch Ness Monsters or Nessies moments before the mysterious shape slipped beneath the water. He said he got the photograph on September 7, 2011, Wednesday at 8:30 am.
It was a very strange morning. It was misty with a bit of rain and sunny at the same time. There was a rainbow so I got my camera out to take a photo and noticed this really large dark shape in the loch with two humps that were barely out of the water. My instant reaction was “That’s Nessie.”
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It wasn’t up for a long long time. It was a really large dark shape and I’ve not seen anything like that on Loch Ness before. I think it’s interesting, that’s how I take it and I would like the photo to be checked.
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I have no doubt, I work on the loch everyday and I’ve never seen anything like it. Almost as soon as I took the shot the shape disappeared under the water and out of sight. It can’t have been a buoy or a mooring as it’s in the wrong place and the ropes would be visible in the water. A few people have said it was birds diving under the water – but I didn’t see any birds fly by. It can’t have been birds – the whole thing went down into the loch. It was quite spooky but I think it’s really interesting.
Jon Rowe
Adrian Shine of the Loch Ness Project based in the Loch Ness Center in Drumnadrochit thought one possible explanation for the photo could be that it was two black throated diver birds captured diving for prey or emerging after a dive. Indeed, I have to agree with Shine that the image published appears to be of two water birds, perhaps loons.
In Scotland, the “black throated diver bird” is the name given to what we call the loon in North America. The black-throated loon (Gavia arctica) is a migratory aquatic bird found in the northern hemisphere. The species is also known as an Arctic Loon in North America and the Black-throated Diver in Eurasia. They often swim in twos, as mated pairs. I have observed them often in various locations through North America, especially in Maine.
John Audubon saw and painted loons, also called “northern divers” or “black-throated divers” in 1833 on his expedition to Labrador. It is uncertain if the above is from that trek, but it is an Audubon painting of loons, as is the following.
For more, see here, here, and here.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
That water looks awfully blue, to be Loch Ness. Loch Ness is full of peet and is very murky. Every photo I have ever seen from the lake, shows the water as a greenish/brown color. I just find the coloring of the water in this photo, rather odd.
On a related note, I would like to advocate a boycott of the Discovery Channel until they release the entirety of the Nushagak Bay cadborosaurus footage. It’s ridiculous that they’re sitting on it and it’s been over a year. The Hillstrands have done nothing for this cause, and it’s obnoxious to know that the best piece of video evidence of any lake monster ever has been suppressed by a cable network.
My God, If Jon Rowe says he saw the elusive Loch Ness Monster, then far be it that anyone, who was not there, at the time, the photographs were taken, to doubt his claims. Loons you say? I see the self-appointed, Crypto-Court Jesters are having another Field Day with this story!
May John Audubon roll-over in his grave with this absurd-analysis that Rowe’s pictures of Nessie are really Loons!
I can see how you could think this was diving birds, but how do you explain the man’s perception of a large dark shape under the water? Is it being treated as a mistake by the photographer, or as a planned hoax?
One way to account for both the large dark shape and the blueness of the water: The rapid passage of clouds across a sky that suddenly clears and is very blue, the way it can be in the fall. I am by far not an experienced water person, but I was once canoeing across a local lake here which is not peaty but pretty murky, and on a bright sunny day with small clouds flying across the sky, you can see the large dark shapes reflected in the water and they do look like large things below the water’s surface. I’ve seen the same thing, to much more frightening effect, while swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. We’re pretty sure there are no large predators in the man-made lakes around here, but there are always constant reports of shark sightings and some attacks along the Gulf. Seeing those dark shapes move across the blue water really moved me into shallow, clearer water post haste.
Is it just me or do the shadows look amazingly similar to rocks below the water. I mean come on there are several seperate round shadows, only one having something protruding from the water above it. Looks like it could be just a piece of that rock sticking above the water line. Why is this even reported in the media? A dumbing down of cryptozoology, as a whole. This picture is one of the least convincing photos of the supposed loch ness creature, in a long line of unconvincing photos.
ya, looks like the top of a rock with two peeks as can be seen by the dark shape under the water, this looks like it was taken from shore and the water is quite shallow, that’s my 2 cents 🙂
Looking at the pictures and zooming in, it does look like birds with their butts in the air and heads down. I messed with the contrast and brightness and I didn’t get the sense that there was a larger target underwater (granted my equipment isn’t top of the line). I know there’s a larger dark shape around the two objects above water, but there’s also another dark blotch just below the objects too, but I think that’s probably a function of the sun on the water. Also, the top most object looks like there’s separation of tail feathers from a bird’s rear end.
The one thing that gave me pause was that the photographer said “The whole thing went down” which leads me to believe he perceived that both shapes went down at the same time. While birds are often in sync, if they really disappeared at the same time, it could have been one solid object.
So, in the end, I’d guess it’s birds, but there’s pause for doubt.
another desperate attempt for attention ………..
Are you certain this isn’t just Piranha 3 “DD” ?
nnnslogan,
It was always bound to happen. I predicted it. Because i have been watching the mainstream media and their attitude towards cryptozoology very carefully. And i have been convinced that there is a deliberate coverup attempt going on. This is why i was PAINED to hear that the man who filmed the creatures sold his footage to Discovery. I wont blame him for it. His priorities different to mine.
How many carcasses of sea monsters have washed up? 100s. And each time the media and the authorities have either destroyed these carcasses or hidden them. Whilst they hire some stooge to dismiss it as a ‘whale’ or ‘shark’
This guy could have seen anything. But I’ll tell you this: he didn’t capture it in any photographs. That isn’t Nessie enough to be a BlobNessie.
I got a higher res image from the witness, the “humps” don’t show any tail feathers or legs. The dark area has hints that the waves over it are shallower and contours underneath. Maybe.
I took a good long look at that picture and saw something: under the water,you can see a shadow; a long shadow extending from the bodily shadow could be a neck, as what looks like a head is perched on it. If they provided a size estimate, it would be so much easier! (As Nessie is said to be from 6 to 30 feet long, I would guess this one is around 13 to 20 feet long.)
Loons don’t stay put with their tails in the air. Dabbling ducks do that, and they only do it in shallow water — where they can reach the bottom. That water looks deeper. Loons dive and surface with a quick movement and don’t stick their tails up as the go down, or breach the water like a submarine, to be captured in a photograph so they look like that. I think Loons, Gaviids per se, is the wrong ID.
I posted a cleaned up and deloused copy of the photo on Craig Woolheater’s Facebook Page.
You’re looking at rocks.
OR…as Loren just pointed out to me could be diving birds. Now the more I look at it the more I’m thinking ducks.
(because of what look like the tail feathers).
What it isn’t—is Nessie