Around Loch Ness on Saturday, there were more than a few people hoping for sunshine. Would-be champions prepared for the Glenurquhart Highland Games, dedicated runners warmed up for the Loch Ness 24 endurance race – and volunteers from around the country and beyond got their binoculars and notepads ready for the biggest search for the Loch Ness monster in 50 years.
The weather wasn’t on their side – the majority of the Highland Games was called off and runners’ endurance was certainly tested as relentless rain battered Loch Ness all day. But as Alan McKenna from Loch Ness Exploration (LNE), a research team focused on the famous loch’s natural behaviour and phenomena, greeted bright-eyed monster-hunters under a grey sky at 8.30am, the message was clear: “The weather is not perfect but that’s not going to stop us.”
Dubbed the Quest, the first day of the weekend-long collaboration between LNE and the newly refurbished Loch Ness Centre saw an estimated 100 volunteers set up a vigil along the loch’s 23 miles of shoreline, hoping for a sight of Nessie. Hundreds more kept watch online from as far away as Argentina, New Zealand and Japan, while a few even set sail in a boat equipped with sonar technology to detect any Nessie-like noises. Overhead, drones used infrared cameras to produce thermal images.
The aim, said McKenna, wasn’t solely to find the Loch Ness monster but to “study the loch and its natural behaviour – the way it deceives you”. He explained: “Natural phenomena can be just as magical and mysterious as the idea of the monster.”
Paul Nixon, general manager of the Loch Ness Centre, said: “The last volunteer-led search was in 1972, and some Nessie hunters are still going from that search – but most would admit they’re ageing. Given the fact that there are still so many unanswered questions at Loch Ness, we’re trying to enthuse a new generation of Nessie Hunters to continue their quest and find answers to one of the biggest mysteries in the world.
“With more eyes on the water than ever, and the technology that we have now, we have a good chance of spotting something.”
As Nessie fever took over the surrounding villages, Loch Ness locals were happy to play their part, offering their own tales and folklore: a parking attendant’s milkman father saw Nessie 45 years ago; a B&B owner has heard that the entire world’s population could fit in Loch Ness three times over.
One notable participant in the weekend’s events was Nessie expert Roland Watson, who runs the Loch Ness Mystery blog and has published books about the legend of Loch Ness. It’s important, said Watson, who has a background in astronomy, that a “pro-monster” narrative is protected even as technological breakthroughs are made.
“There’s been a general drift over the last few decades towards a sceptical-oriented mindset in society, people trying to explain away mysteries,” he said. “But there have been over 1,000 sightings, and I take the holistic view that they can’t all be wrong.”
Watson said this weekend presented an important opportunity. “We need a whole group of people who are dedicated and prepared to focus attention on the loch for a sustained amount of time in decent numbers – people who are trained and motivated to keep looking and see something others might miss.”
In a layby on the north-west shore, Jenny Johnstone and Annie MacDonald from Inverness were among that number. As co-hosts of the Stories of Scotland podcast, they have previously covered Nessie and signed up to join the hunt after a number of American listeners contacted them, asking if they’d be taking part.
“I’m passionate about Highland culture, and storytelling is a really important part of that. Nessie is part of that rich tapestry,” said MacDonald, who grew up nearby. She now swims in Loch Ness twice a week but is yet to catch a glimpse. “The best thing I’ve seen in Loch Ness is a bottle of champagne that must have fallen off a boat – that, or Nessie was saving it,” she said. Did she drink Nessie’s champagne? “Of course!” she laughs.
On Dores Beach, on the loch’s east shore, Nessie-spotters included Simon Walsh, who drove overnight from Liverpool to take part in the hunt. It’s familiar territory for him – he visits two or three times a year in hope of a sighting. “I think there’s three monsters in there – something like dinosaurs and something inbred,” he said, suggesting they could be plesiosaurs, an apparently extinct marine reptile. “They’ve probably been there as long as the water has.”
Walsh wasn’t optimistic that these beasts would ever be seen definitively or found, except perhaps in fossil form. “But seeing isn’t believing,’ he said. “How many people have seen a million pounds? But we still know it exists.”
Among the select few waiting to board Deepscan, LNE’s exploration vessel, was seven-year-old Rowan Spencer-Black and his parents, on holiday from Bognor Regis. “It was Rowan’s idea to come here and try to find Nessie,” said his mother, Alex Black. “We’re staying right on the bank so we’ve been keeping a lookout – but all we’ve seen so far is a family of ducks.”
As afternoon faded on Saturday, the rain showed few signs of abating and there weren’t yet any definitive conclusions one way or the other – but perhaps that was no bad thing. “It would be a shame, really, if they disproved it for good this weekend,” one Drumnadrochit local said, wistfully. “It’s nice for people to have something to believe in.”
