IT'S one of the UK's greatest unexplained mysteries, with tales of the mythical beast spanning centuries.

And now another reported sighting of the Loch Ness monster has been officially recorded after a creature with a "4ft neck" was spotted in the murky waters.

Ricky Phillips took this picture of a mysterious creature in Loch Ness last Thursday Credit: Northpix

Ricky Phillips, who works as a guide, says he was waiting for his group of tourists to finish their cruise when he noticed the strange sight last Thursday.

The 39-year-old says he was sitting at the River Oich as it flows into Loch Ness at Fort Augustus eating some chips when he heard a weird noise.

Mr Phillips, who writes history books, said: "It was a grey creature - almost bird like - in a grey stretch of water.

"It's neck was three to four feet long, a head the size of a rugby ball and a ridge across its eyes. I was baffled.

Rick Phillips works as a tour guide and was waiting for his group to get off a cruise when he took the snap Credit: Northpix

"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.

Incredible moment a beachgoer spots something swimming in Loch Ness Inverness, Scotland

"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, and was taking a few pictures of the loch and the scenery when I again heard that curious noise.

"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 and then it turned and disappeared all in a few seconds.

"I looked down and realised that it was in my picture, so 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.

When were the most famous Loch Ness Monster sightings? Nobody has yet proved that the Loch Ness Monster is real – but that certainly hasn’t stopped people trying. Many pictures claiming to show Nessie have been exposed as pranks, with others explained away as a case of mistaken identity. The "surgeon's photograph", snapped by Colonel Robert Wilson in 1934, is probably the most famous Nessie sighting ever. It was later exposed to be a hoax. Wilson's snap ignited curiosity around the Loch Ness Monster and led to a spate of "sightings", such as this picture taken from Fort Augustus on the loch's southern tip. George Edwards took this stunning picture of Loch Ness in 2012, claiming that he had finally found definitive proof of the giant creature's existence. A year later, the boat skipper admitted he had made the whole thing up. The image was created with a fake fibreglass model of Nessie from a National Geographic documentary, and Edwards had even let many of the tourists he ferries around the loch in on his prank. In 2014, a satellite photo on the Apple Maps app seemingly showed a 100ft shape swimming in the loch. The mysterious outline sparked renewed interest in Nessie after a lull of several years, with the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club claiming it was "likely" to be the camera-shy monster. However, experts insisted it was merely a boat and its wake. In September 2017, amateur photographer Ian Bremner took this photo from the banks of the loch. His friends claimed it showed three seals playing together, but the whisky warehouse worker suggested it "could be Nessie".

"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.

The previous sightin was recorded by an American tourist who saw a dark green object protruding 4.5 feet above the water on November 22.

According to Google there are 200,000 searches each month for the Loch Ness Monster, which is estimated to be worth £41million to the region.

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