Gary Campbell, keeper of the register, said he thinks the creature is actually a giant fish or an eel

People have reported seeing 'Nessie' as far back as 565AD when St Columba came across a beast in the River Ness

One was captured on camera by New York woman Crystal Ardito who 'spotted it' in a photo months later


Sightings of the Loch Ness Monster are at their highest in more than a decade with five eye witnesses accounts of the mythical creature made in the past year.

Gary Campbell, keeper of the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register, said it was a 'vintage' year for Nessie reports in Scotland.

It has now accepted five sightings for 2015 - including one just logged by a New York woman - the most in 13 years.

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Whatever the red ring shows in this picture, taken by American Crystal Ardito, has been accepted as an official 'sighting' of the monster

Ms Ardito said she did not notice the strange object in her photos of Loch Ness, pictured, until months later

Mr Campbell stressed that the majority of claimed sightings do not get included on the register - as most can be explained in one way or another.

Among them was that logged by American tourist Crystal Ardito who recently found pictures of 'Nessie' after studying her summer holiday snaps.

'I went to Scotland to go on the Loch Ness boat ride on July 1. I took photos of the loch and I was just looking at my photos and I found one photo where I saw a grey thing sticking out of the water, so I zoomed in,' she said.

Ms Ardito said she had only seen the object for 'a few seconds' and 'did not notice the grey object in the photo until months later...in the middle of the loch.'

Mr Campbell said it was a very good sighting, and added: '2015 has been a vintage year for Nessie sightings. We've had five bona fide reports from people who were at the loch, two of which have fantastic pictures as well.

'This is the first time in 13 years that there have this number of sightings reported by people who saw something while they were at Loch Ness. It also includes a multiple witness sighting which is very unusual - it's normally just one person who sees something for a few seconds.

'I think that this proves that Nessie's not gone anywhere. We were a bit worried in 2013 when no-one saw her but it looks like she was just keeping her head down at the time.

Gary Campbell, pictured, said 2015 has been a banner year for sightings of 'Nessie' with the most numbers reported in more than a decade

This picture is one of the earliest photographic sightings of Nessie taken by Dr Kenneth Wilson in 1934, although it was later called a fake by Chris Spurling, who claimed on his deathbed he had helped fake the photo using a model made from plastic and wood

'These reports also show that Nessie doesn't just hide out in one part of Loch Ness - she's just as likely to appear at either end so I suppose the message for monster hunters is to keep your eyes peeled no matter where you are at the loch.

'It's 1450 years now since the first report of a monster in Loch Ness - it doesn't look like Nessie's going anywhere soon.'

The last sighting of Nessie, accoeding to the register, was on September 15 when local man Conor McKenna was driving along the loch side one mile south of Urquhart Castle when he saw a dark coloured 15-20ft long object in the water about 250 yards from the shore.

He had a clear view for six seconds before the object submerged, leaving a small wave here it had been.

This 'picture' of Nessie was taken by husband and wife William and Joan Jobes in May 2011 although some have claimed it is a log

In August, Linda Bates and her husband from Yorkshire, were staying at the Loch Ness Holiday Park. She photographed a 'mass' moving in an undulating fashion in the loch. Five other people also witnessed the sighting which lasted for five minutes.

Then in April, Dee Bruce of Elgin was driving to Skye with her partner Les Stuart when she saw a black creature come about three feet out of the water near the north end of the loch and the same month a couple on visiting Urquhart Castle reported seeing a large dolphin sized shape emerging from the waters. It came out four to six times and was confirmed by another unrelated person who saw the same thing.

According to Google, there are around 200,000 searches each month for the Loch Ness Monster, and around 120,000 for information and accommodation close to Loch Ness. The monster mystery is said to be worth £30m to the region.

Mr Campbell believes that Nessie is most likely a fish or eel.

Mr Campbell, a chartered accountant based in Inverness, has been logging Nessie sightings for 19 years.

Searches have been carried out before such as this one with boats and helicopters organised by the Loch Ness and Morar Project

But now, like Steve Feltham, the loch's other famous 'monster' hunter, Mr Campbell believes Nessie is most likely a fish or a giant eel.

Earlier this year, Mr Feltham made global headlines, by declaring that the creature - or creatures - in the loch was probably a Wels Catfish.

For 24 years he has assiduously watched the waters of Loch Ness convinced that at first it held a family of prehistoric monsters.

But Mr Feltham, who is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records for the longest continuous monster hunting vigil of the loch, believes Nessie is no plesiosaur but more likely a giant catfish first introduced by Victorians.

But Mr Campbell, who as Nessie's registrar of sightings has put together a list of sightings going back 1,500 years, said a fish or eel was probably the best theory.

It was in 1996, he saw something resembling a 'mini whale' - with a black shiny back - at the south end of the loch.

'I have spent the last 19 years trying to explain it,' admitted Mr Campbell. 'Like most sightings I only saw it for a few seconds. When I went to record it, I found there was no register, so I started one.'

A submarine has even been used in Loch Ness to try to locate the mythical beast to no avail

Pictured: A Lego sculpture of the 'Nessie' in Florida. The monster has become a pop culture icon across the world

Since then Mr Campbell has logged 1073 sightings - including the five this year.

'When I had my only sighting I went into things with an open mind. But I don't believe Nessie is a prehistoric monster,' said Mr Campbell, 50.

'Loch Ness would have been a block of ice 10,000 years ago - but whatever is in there dwells at the bottom.'

Irish missionary St Columba is first said to have encountered a beast in the River Ness in 565AD.

But recently it was claimed that the Loch Ness monster may have been invented by a cunning British public relations consultant, who dreamed up the idea of the creature in a London pub.

The claims were made in a new book which suggests the story of the monster was started to encourage people to visit the Scottish Highland following the difficult years of the Great Depression.