What did a Nessie hunter spot when watching webcam of Loch Ness from his home in Ireland?
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Health service clerical officer Eoin O'Faodhagain is a long-time Nessie spotter from his home in County Donegal, Ireland.
As well as one live sighting registered in 1987, he also has 14 webcam sightings recorded on the Official Loch Ness Monster Register plus eight unregistered sightings.
He is among the millions worldwide who are fascinated by the mystery of Loch Ness Monster which was so-called following a sighting by Drumnadrochit hotel manageress Aldie Mackay 90 years ago on April 14 1933.
The 58-year-old, who is married, spends about an hour in the morning before he goes to work watching webcams around Loch Ness and an hour or two in the evening if he has time.
Dublin-born Mr O'Faodhagain first became interested in lake monsters as a six-year-old when his father told him the story of three priests who encountered a serpent-like creature on Lough Ree while fishing late one evening in 1960.
He visited Loch Ness in July 1987 when he said glimpsed Nessie while on a bus from Fort Augustus to Drumnadrochit.
Just before Invermoriston, he noticed what appeared to be a large boulder or rock in the middle of the loch – although there are no rocks there.
"The day was overcast and there was a force eight gale blowing north south, and a swell of 2ft to 3 ft and these waves were lashing up against this object only about half way up it," he recalled.
"I came to the conclusion it was about 6 ft high out of the water, and about the same distance in length, mottled brown in colour.
"I thought the object was stationary in the water."
The sighting lasted less than two minutes.
"To say one was speechless is an understatement after the sighting," he said.
Mr O'Faodhagain lists his sightings on his own YouTube channel which attracts viewers from around the world.
"My best sighting is the live sighting, but I have no photograph for it," he said.
His best webcam sighting was one at Urquhart Castle on Nessie on the Net webcam on April 30 2018 when an object which he estimated to be at least 20ft long appeared from the right of the screen and moved from left to right slowly moving in and out of surface water.
He has also noted other webcam sightings which are not registered on the Official Loch Ness Monster Register due to rule changes.
Instead, he lists them on his YouTube channel which attracts viewers from around the world.
He said the best of his non-registered sightings was viewed on the Shoreland Lodges webcam on November 19 2022. "I recorded a slow-moving object over a nine-minute period moving from right to left in a controlled manner," he said.
"It actually stopped motionless for 50 seconds, then continued on its slow journey outside webcam coverage. The object was roughly 8ft to 10ft long."
He said the still images appear to show an image of a creature with a hump in the middle and two fins and a rectangular-shaped head and neck just under the surface of the water.
"When I get a sighting, I am so appreciative that I list it as a sighting and not as a certain grade of sighting, because as a Nessie Hunter you have to take what is on offer," he said.
Mr O'Faodhagain has visited Loch Ness five times and hope to return again soon.
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"My hypothesis on the Loch Monster, based on my sightings over the years, is that there is possibly two different species of the Loch Ness Monster," he said.
"One could be a giant eel, and one could be an unknown species.
"These creatures are not living in Loch Ness as rogues – they have family."
