Is Nessie Back?

As if this year weren’t weird enough:

A whisky warehouse worker has taken a picture of what could be one of the most convincing Loch Ness Monster sightings to date. Amateur photographer Ian Bremner, 58, was driving around the Highlands in search of red deer – but stumbled instead across the remarkable sight of what appears to be Nessie swimming in the calm waters of Loch Ness.

Don’t get thrown off by the “whisky warehouse worker” bit; in this part of Scotland, everybody works in the whisky business.

The dad-of-four spends most of his weekends in the region taking photographs of the stunning natural beauty. But it was not until he got back to his home in Nigg, Invergordon, that he noticed three humps emerging from the water which he thinks could be the elusive monster.

The picture shows a two-metre long silver creature swimming away from the lens with its head bobbing away and a tail flapping a metre away, preparing to swim further on. The apparent creature was spotted coming up for air close to the banks of the loch on Saturday afternoon midway between the villages of Dores and Inverfarigaig.

Ian said: “It’s a part of the world that always makes you second guess what you’re seeing.

In this election season, Americans might well agree. Whisky or no whisky.

Ian’s picture fits in perfectly with the widely believed description of Nessie being a long serpent creature which stretches as far back as 1933. The image he took closely resembles some of the clearest and most notable examples of the creature. Encounters from 1933 tell of a 10ft long limbless creature crossing the road leaving behind a slimy trail of undergrowth.

And in 2001 a pair of fishermen spotted a dark 6ft long blob sticking its head out of the water and were adamant that it was not a seal. There have been five other reported sightings of the monster this year which, including Ian’s latest, is the highest number since 2002.

I want to believe.