‘Loch Ness monster’ spotted? pictured’ by man who heard ‘Darth Vader noise’.
Military historian Ricky D Phillips took amazing snap by accident day after he saw giant flipper and heard ‘Darth Vader’ breathing
Ricky D Phillips took his astonishing snap last week and is convinced his sighting of a “bird-like” Loch Ness Monster has cracked the centuries-old mystery.
He revealed the mysterious creature had a 4ft neck and a head “the size of a rugby ball.”
The best-selling author of warfare titles – including The First Casualty, The Untold Story of the Falklands War – also works as a tour guide.
He was leading a party of eight foreign tourists who went on a cruise on Loch Ness last Thursday while he headed off to take some snaps.
It was while he rested at the River Oich, just as it flows into Loch Ness at Fort Augustus, that he saw the strange sight at 2.40pm.
Mr Phillips, 39, from Edinburgh, revealed: “It was a grey creature – almost bird-like – in a grey stretch of water.
“Its neck was three to four feet long and had a head the size of a rugby ball and a ridge across its eyes. I was baffled.
“The previous Wednesday I had heard a strange noise as I was stood by a cafe at the edge of the loch in Fort Augustus.
“The noise sounded almost metallic, but like something was blowing air – like Darth Vader.
“I have swum and sailed with whales and dolphins, seen hundreds of seals, and it sounded like nothing I have ever heard.
“I spun around and saw something grey, just a side of a body and a flipper. OK, this could have been something explainable, so I left quite interested but unsure.
“The noise was really weird though.
“Then last Thursday after my tour party went on their cruise I decided to take a walk along the river Oich, mainly to see the old bridge.
“I looked up from my phone and saw a long, straight neck, all completely grey, and a narrow face, which was only about 20ft away.
“It turned and disappeared all in a few seconds.
“I looked down and realised that it was in my picture, so I zoomed in and there it was. It actually looks like a giant bird or a peacock in the face, with high ridges above its eyes and what almost looks like a beak.
“I know dinosaurs came from birds and that many had hard lips, almost like a beak – but this is simply what I saw. It seems to have almost a frill on its neck. It is very odd.
“All I will say is that, if I was going to fake a Nessie, I would certainly have made it look less like a bird and more like … well, more like what we think Nessie looks like!”
The image was today accepted by the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register.
“It is a record year for seeing Nessie this century,” said Gary Campbell, the recorder and keeper of the register.
