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The Loch Ness Monster

Erinaceus said:
It was a great crested grebe doing a Nessie impression.
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What makes me think what were looking at is a Cormorant? They do have that Knape on their black necks.
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It could have been a sneaky cormorant that had been hidden by the top of the shingle ridge and it does look rather dark for a grebe but it was before sunrise! Three grebes were there at the same time in the previous photo.
 
PeteByrdie said:
Whereabouts on the west coast? I spent a glorious couple of weeks in the Gairloch/Ullapool areas one summer. I especially enjoyed the Inverewe Garden. It might have been the only pleasant two weeks in the area that year for all I know, but it was great.
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I was born in Morar next door to Mallaig which is further down from from Ullapool. Due to no school places being available in Mallaig or Fort William I spent term time with my Aunt and Uncle in London and went to school there, and school holiday time back home. Being a poor family we never really went anywhere other than local but the coast, the mountains and the loch were our school holidays playground.

There were loads of stories about the Loch Morar monster and other local legends but neither myself or my friends ever saw anything and my dad always said it was hogwash.
 
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It definitely wasn't a black swan on the sea. There were three grebes there and I thought it was one of those but it may have been a cormorant that was hidden by the shingle ridge. I've got a photo of the grebes as well and the time on both is 06.55.
 
kesavaross said:
I was born in Morar next door to Mallaig which is further down from from Ullapool. Due to no school places being available in Mallaig or Fort William I spent term time with my Aunt and Uncle in London and went to school there, and school holiday time back home. Being a poor family we never really went anywhere other than local but the coast, the mountains and the loch were our school holidays playground.

There were loads of stories about the Loch Morar monster and other local legends but neither myself or my friends ever saw anything and my dad always said it was hogwash.
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I once walked from Fort William to Mallaig by diverting along the West Highland Way route, and walked alongside the edge of Loch Morar. Camped near the shoreline overnight - the only thing I came across was a dead Ram caught inside a wire cage that someone had placed right across the trackway. Told the locals when I reached Mallaig and they passed it on so-say to whoever owned it.
 
I spent a long afternoon at Foyers watching the boats passing and what the wakes do. With such a large body of water channelled, they don’t just dissipate like you’d see at sea. They create all sorts of patterns long after the boats have passed.
 
Sid said:
I once walked from Fort William to Mallaig by diverting along the West Highland Way route, and walked alongside the edge of Loch Morar. Camped near the shoreline overnight - the only thing I came across was a dead Ram caught inside a wire cage that someone had placed right across the trackway. Told the locals when I reached Mallaig and they passed it on so-say to whoever owned it.
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I walked/camped the West Highlands way starting from Inverherive to Fort William. It was a stunning walk.

A ram caught in a wire cage? That's an odd one. Please tell more.

When I was young in the early and mid 60's the West Coast was a place of hardly any tourism and mysteries and mysticism was rife as the people around where I lived, especially old and older people, were very superstitious. Picture old men in an old pub in the middle of no where in a howling gale sitting with both hands on the tops of their canes, half drunk pints in front of them, saying 'Aye laddie, you may laugh, but I tell ye...... '. I sometimes wonder if that's how the fabled Loch Ness Monster came about but another part of me says it just maybe true.
 
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I recall a holiday rental firm that not only hired out cottages on the lock, but a boat, equipped with a fairly decent sonar array.
I was arranging a holiday on it when I split up with my partner at the time and I had other things to worry about ...
 
kesavaross said:
I walked/camped the West Highlands way starting from Inverherive to Fort William. It was a stunning walk.

A ram caught in a wire cage? That's an odd one. Please tell more.

When I was young in the early and mid 60's the West Coast was a place of hardly any tourism and mysteries and mysticism was rife as the people around where I lived, especially old and older people, were very superstitious. Picture old men in an old pub in the middle of no where in a howling gale sitting with both hands on the tops of their canes, half drunk pints in front of them, saying 'Aye laddie, you may laugh, but I tell ye...... '. I sometimes wonder if that's how the fabled Loch Ness Monster came about but another part of me says it just maybe true.
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I've just looked for it on Google Map, and it seems it's no longer there. My hike was back in around the '70's.
The cage was about 10 to 12 feet high or so, with the open end leading straight into the loch itself quite a way.
I had to climb over both sides of the fence with back-pack in order to get back to the path - I'd decided to go over it, as there was no easier way to negotiate a way around the top end of the it as the terrain was far to rough.

I couldn't fathom out how the Ram had got trapped at the land-end of the cage, but I reckon that there must have been a fairly long dry spell there before my walk, and the animal must have wandered into the mouth of the cage and the water must have built up too fast and trapped it in there.

It was right up into the back of the cage when I first saw it, so I doubt if it had drowned in the loch before hand as it would never have finished up so far up into the back of the cage.

I reckon now ~ looking back, that someone had built it to safely beech, and keep a boat in, but never thought that it could also turn into a trap.

However, it looks like the owner of said cage must have been advised to remove it a long time ago.
 
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Analogue Boy said:
I spent a long afternoon at Foyers watching the boats passing and what the wakes do. With such a large body of water channelled, they don’t just dissipate like you’d see at sea. They create all sorts of patterns long after the boats have passed.
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This is my experience of LN too. Wakes which live much beyond the boat passing.

However this cannot be a new phenomena; started when the canal was built.

And bear in mind that the loch must have been very busy in those days.

These modern lochs with no boats on are a recent, post war phenomena.
 
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