A fellow Nessie fan put me through to a friend of his who had a curious experience only yesterday (Sunday 5th February) at the loch. I phoned that person tonight and put down here what we discussed.
The person gave me his name but he requests anonymity but allows himself to be known as a local Foyers man. That day yesterday he was relaxing and watching the loch at the pier near the entrance to the Foyers power station. This is, in fact, the location where infamous Nessie Hunter, Frank Searle parked his caravan and spent thousands of hours watching the loch over thirty years ago. You can "drive" right up to the pier using Google StreetView.
It was about 9am and the loch was mirror calm. Our man observed some fish jumping ahead of him as he watched from the stone pier and it was then that he noticed bubbles a few feet in front of him breaking the surface and creating series of concentric ripples. The witness likened it to a funnel under the surface bubbling away.
At this, the source of the bubbles began to move away in the direction of the jumping fish and just kept creating these concentric circles up to a point over 200 metres away, at which point it stopped and dissipated. Our witness was so focused on watching the curious event that he forgot to take a snap with his mobile phone camera. That is not the first time we have heard of this and it won't be the last!
Considering what had been seen, I asked if he thought it might have been a seal, but he discounted this based on the behaviour of seals he had often watched near the Kessock Bridge. Whether it could have been a large fish like a pike is an open question. I, myself, am not convinced either way.
Anyway, the year has begun and we may already have our first sighting of the creature. Comments and opinions are welcome below.
The author can be contacted at lochnesskelpie@gmail.com
I'm trying to picture it. Bubbles can only really be air / gas output, since there was no splashing at the surface. It seems unlikely that there are any air breathers present, and it certainly doesn't sound like a seal. Movement rules out some kind of seismic event, unless it was running along a seam. After that I'm lost. Did anyone else report bubbles appearing with Nessie?
ReplyDelete200m is a fair distance for this to be visible at. I wonder how big the bubbles were?
ReplyDeleteNot sure!
DeleteIt would certainly give an angle on things if this was a large disturbance. Clearly he was a local man with local knowledge, so it must have been an odd sight for him to have noted it.
DeleteAn experienced angler and fisherman by the name of Tim Richardson gave an account of a massive underwater disturbance he witnessed in Urquhart bay - sorry I don't have a link but it's ezinearticles.com
ReplyDeleteThis account reminded of that because fish were also jumping from the water seemingly from something under the surface.
http://ezinearticles.com/?I-Saw-The-Loch-Ness-Monster---A-True-Story-Of-Inexplicable-Events!&id=700232
DeleteI was wondering on Tim's view on this as an experienced angler.
Roland...
DeleteThis is exactly the kind of response you get from someone who knows what they are talking about where watercraft is concerned, It reminded me of when I commented on the photograph of water upswelling not so long back..and these are the most compelling articles of all. These describe what is probably the more commom occurences for the LNM and yet are so "invisible" to the common observer that, to me, it only reinforces the fact that we are dealing with an animal. Even though they follow behavioural patterns, the fact that when they do happen is in different locations at different times (although the leaping trout element is a great credifier) is also most compelling. Water upswells and features happen all the time in bodies of water, especially large and deep ones, but when they aren't at all regular...then it's animate.
Yes, water disturbances have their place, but there is nothing like a long neck and two humps coasting past you!
DeleteWell.....I do concede there'd be no comparison!...
DeleteWhen i was an angler i would regularly see various streams of bubbles breaking the surface , a fine stream of bubbles breaking the surface & moving in a line was normally a fish grubbing about on the bottom (carp etc) while bigger bubbles in one spot were normally gases (methane ?)sent up periodically from the bottom .I would also like to know the size of the bubbles & as martin curran states 200m is a long way to see bubbles even with a mirror calm surface. The foyers pier area is a beautiful place when the loch is calm & with no one about.I've often thought as i stand there what a perfect spot for a sighting..
ReplyDeleteThanks, at 200m, I suspect it was the concentric ripples that were more significant.
DeleteNice to hear of new sightings coming in. Great to discuss something new unlike other blogs and pages as some heve the Rines 1970's photos as the latest discussion!! Old hat or what lol
ReplyDeleteThe Humpback Whale encircles its prey (shoals of Fish) with a ring of air bubbles,but also rises out of the water to feed on them.
ReplyDeleteIf only Nessie would do the same.
A ring of bubbles would seem to indicate a air breather and these are usually seen fairly regularly.
Just what I was thinking too. Some dolphins and whales use a bubble net to confuse prey so they can catch and eat them.
DeleteThe sequence of bubbles/ripples appears to have proceeded in a straight line.
DeleteSlightly diverting from Nessie (if that's ok) but still supporting claims that large unidentified to science, creatures still exist is the indisputable report from a WW1 German submarine U28 the link........
ReplyDeletehttp://blogs.forteana.org/node/93
I can't make up my mind. Is your "indisputable" a piece of snark (in which case, well done!) or did you really not read the whole piece and see that the author thinks the report to be very disputable indeed?
ReplyDeleteI read the report as to the witness's sighting I have no interest what so ever of the author's own interpretation of what a trained submarine crew witnessed on U28
Deletei have seen otters doing this.but i dont think the could swim 200 yards under water
ReplyDeleteCOULD BE A OTTER I HAVE SEEN IT SEVERAL times when fishing .but i think it would of surfaced after 200 yards
ReplyDeleteThe use of the question mark is probably wise.
ReplyDeleteSo, just bubbles moving away, nothing animate broke the surface ?
The percentage of sightings that include bubbles [an air breather or bad case of aquatic flatulence ? ] would be an enlightening statistic.
No one will claim this is a classic. Bubbles in sightings? No idea!
Delete