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Nessie's English cousin
Last updated at 00:07am on 23.02.07It is little more than a dark smudge near the surface of a lake - but it could still signify the birth of a new legend.
For this shadowy image is causing more than a ripple of interest among monster aficionados.
And to the man who took it, the picture is proof that something strange lurks in the waters of Windermere.
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Photographer Linden Adams, 35, was walking in the area with his wife Louise a fortnight ago.
They were at a secluded spot more than 1,000ft up a mountain when they spotted the "creature".
"It just came out of the blue," said the father of two. "The water was incredibly peaceful and then this huge thing appeared, diving and thrashing around."
He said it appeared to be 50ft long, when compared to boats nearby. "I snatched the binoculars from my wife and gasped when I got a better look. I could see this huge dark thing moving in the water. It had a head like a labrador, only much, much bigger."
Mr Adams, from Bowness-on-Windermere, said: "I know the lake well and this was no freak wave or boat."
Aware of similar sightings in the lake, he began taking pictures of what he calls the "Bowness Monster".
"When I looked at them on my computer I realised I had something," he said. "It was spine-tingling."
Aware of the scepticism surrounding photographs purporting to show the Loch Ness monster Mr Adams sent his picture to a forensic photographer, who confirmed it was not digitally enhanced.
His wife, 38, said: "I was just making excuses in my head for what it could be but when we saw the pictures we knew we had seen something really important."
Dr Charles Paxton, a Marine Biologist from St Andrews University in Edinburgh, said: "A fish or a water mammal would not be that big and deer would not go under the water."
He said that new species of water creatures are often discovered, so he "wouldn't rule out any possibilities".
The sighting comes just months after scientists visited Lake Windermere to examine claims by a tourist about a 20ft "serpent-like" creature.
Richard Freeman of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, which researches mystery animals, said the sightings could in fact be of giant sterile eels, which, unlike normal eels, "just stay in fresh water and get bigger and bigger".
Reader views (9)
Ummm, the first thing I did when I heard about "Bow-Nessie" and the guy in the water/3 foot wave-was look to see if the lake has any route to salt water- it does via the river. The reason I thought of this is we just had a large bull shark caught way up the Potomac here a few weeks ago. Bull sharks can live in fresh water. In South Africa they recently were astounded to find them living- as in staying as part of their normal habitat- 30 miles upriver from the nearest salt water. I read that the river is- what all of 8 miles long to the salt water- and it has huge tidal changes? And the lake is below sea level? Then I did a search for pictures and saw the one above. That clinches it for me- you can *clearly* see something that could be interpreted as a dorsal fin. The question is how big a wake does a say 15 foot bull shark make- my guess is it's consistent with observations. Eel my derriere- that looks like a shark dorsal fin to me. (of course without *scale* in the picture you can't tell, could be nothing or a hoax as well.) One way to find out- chum the water with big salt water fish on big hooks and see what bites! If the picture is genuine and the right scale, given what I've read about people swimming they really ought to try and catch it and make certain it's not a bull shark and if it is, put a shark net on the river!
- Kristin Blais, Washington, DC, USA, 14/09/2010 03:53
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It's nothing, just ignore it please...
- Connor Temple, ARC, London, 18/04/2008 10:47
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The illuminati are at it again! ROSWELL! ROSWELL!
- Anon, UK, 15/03/2007 21:04
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Good try for your tourist industry but sorry we are not in the market for new found monsters. Try towing a bigger log next time.
- Doug Evans, Glasgow Scotland, 27/02/2007 23:43
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The water is way too calm. Looks like a frog.
- Dave Quintana, Los Angeles, CA, 26/02/2007 18:18
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Inconclusive in my mind. No obvious 'wake' trails. Looks like a log!
- Sheppard, Florida, USA, 26/02/2007 13:06
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It's so small. It certainly doesn't look monstrous to me.
- Bob, Lincoln County, USA, 24/02/2007 16:46
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Doesn't look very big in the picture, looks like an otter or a dog or something - pity he couldn't get a picture of it while it was diving and thrashing around.
- Isabel, Woking, England, 23/02/2007 09:44
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Now that is really interesting.
I'm glad, for his sake, that he got pictures.
- Mark, Texas, 23/02/2007 08:29
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