A dedicated Loch Ness Monster hunter who has lived by the lake for over 30 years says he will remain there until he proves that Nessie is real.
Steve Feltham, 59, has been casting a watchful eye over the lake since June 19, 1991, dedicating over half his life to the legendary beast.
Steve, who has previously been recognised by Guinness World Records for the longest continuous monster-hunting vigil of the loch, first visited the area at the age of seven on a family holiday and became obsessed with spotting Nessie.
It was at the age of 29 when he decided to pack in his job and leave his home and girlfriend in Dorset to embark on his sight-seeing mission, reports the Daily Star.
He has now spent well over 11,000 days watching out for the Loch Ness Monster - and vows to stay in order to solve the mystery.
"I'm going to stay here until I get the proof, that's my life's work," he said.
"I need to prove to myself it's real. This is something I need to get closure on.
"I hold the world record for hunting Nessie. I've kept watch since June 19, 1991, so 31 years."
Steve met partner Hilary while she was on a trip from her home in Inverness around 16 years ago but has failed to convince her of Nessie's existence.
He admits he's only ever seen one clear sign, in 1992, but is intent on unearthing further proof.
"Something shot through the water as if it had been fired from a torpedo. All I could see was a spray of water. I just froze and it was gone," he added.
The adventurer makes money by creating models of the Loch Ness Monster and selling them to tourists.
Speaking to the Daily Record in 2020, he said: “I never came here to be a cottage industry. I came here to solve a mystery and so far I’ve given up more than 10,400 of my days to do so and I’m prepared to spend the same time again.
"I don’t regret a day of it. I have lived my life trying to solve one of the world’s greatest mysteries and it’s been the realisation of a dream."
In 2019, Steve was the star of a film about him by a director from Oscar-winner Ridley Scott’s company. Others who have called on him over the years include Eric Idle, Robin Williams, the Chinese State Circus and Billy Connolly , who asked him to be a guide for some of his A-list friends for a day.
Meanwhile, researchers have admitted that the Loch Ness Monster could have existed in its Scottish home.
According to academics, Nessie is "plausible", after finding that some plesiosaurs - widely claimed by some supporters the most likely species to be the monster - may have lived in fresh water.
However, sceptics have argued that even if a plesiosaur lineage had survived into the modern era, the creatures could not have lived in Loch Ness because they needed a saltwater environment.
Now, the University of Bath has found fossils of small plesiosaurs in a 100 million year old river system in Morocco's Sahara Desert, suggesting they did live in fresh water.
The fossils include bones and teeth from a 9ft 10in-long adult, and an arm bone from a 5ft juvenile.
The discovery suggests these creatures lived and fed in fresh water, alongside frogs, crocodiles, turtles, fish, and the huge aquatic dinosaur spinosaurus.
"What amazes me is that the ancient Moroccan river contained so many carnivores all living alongside each other," said co-author Dave Martill, a professor of palaeobiology at Bath University. "This was no place to go for a swim."
In 2020, startling images of a large creature inhabiting the depths of Loch Ness were captured on sonar off Invermoriston by skipper Ronald Mackenzie aboard his Spirit of Loch Ness tourist boat.
They were said to be the "most compelling" evidence of the existence of a Loch Ness Monster, leaving experts astounded by the clarity of the image of an object, estimated then to be 32 feet long, hovering 62 feet above the bottom and over 500 feet down.
Steve was as excited about the findings as anyone, adding: "The sonar image - together with the previous ones - are now the best evidence of something big and deep down in the loch.
"That tourist boat has been regularly picking up contacts in that area for the last two years. So some large creature has moved into that territory.
This is another step towards finding out what Nessie is. I'm still inclined to think she is a large fish of some sort, my best guess is a Welsh catfish."
