I’ve spent 11,000 DAYS hunting for Nessie... and I don’t regret a single second of it
30 years ago today, monster-watcher began remarkable vigil
THE man who has set a world record for the longest vigil of looking for the Loch Ness Monster will today clock up 30 years of his obsession.
It was on July 18, 1991, that Steve Feltham arrived full-time at Loch Ness.
And today the adventurer will scan the loch as he has done nearly every day for the past three decades.
He says he has no intention of giving up – even though he has had just one glimpse of Nessie in that time, which sparked his lifelong fascination.
But Mr Feltham hopes it will not take 30 more years at the loch to explain the enduring mystery.
‘I have not regretted a day of it,’ said the 58-year-old. ‘Today, I will be watching the loch as usual and celebrating 30 years from the lochside beer garden at the Dores Inn.
‘I first visited in 1970, but it wasn’t until 1991 that I finally got here full-time.
‘I feel so privileged to be able to dedicate my time to the adventure that I love. It is a fantastic boyhood dream come true.
‘I must admit that I did think it would be slightly easier to solve than it’s turned out, but there’s no rush.
‘I would say that 75 per cent of sightings have a mundane explanation, 10 per cent are deliberate hoaxes and the rest defy reasonable explanation – and it is those that drive me on each day.’
He added: ‘In some ways, I arrived 20 years late – that’s when the heyday of the eccentric Nessie hunters really was. There are fewer of us now.
‘However, you still hear of one or two good sightings a year and people are seeing interesting deep-water contacts on sonar.’
Last year – as exclusively revealed in the Scottish Mail on Sunday – startling images of a large creature inhabiting the depths of Loch Ness were captured on sonar off Invermoriston, by skipper Ronald Mackenzie aboard his Spirit of Loch Ness tourist boat.
Mr Feltham said they were the ‘most compelling’ evidence of the existence of a Loch Ness Monster.
‘That was a game-changer for me,’ he said. ‘I now expect to see the mystery solved – and well before another 30 years of watching the loch.’
Mr Feltham has even been the star of a film about him by a director from Oscar-winner Ridley Scott’s company.
Among those who have also called on him over the years have been Eric Idle, the late Robin Williams and the Chinese State Circus – dropping by for a photo shoot. Billy Connolly also invited him to be a guide for half a dozen of his A-list chums for a day.
Mr Feltham – who is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records for the longest continuous monster hunting vigil of the loch – admits he completely underestimated the time it would take to find the answer to the riddle of Nessie.
When he started searching for the monster, he thought he would solve one of the world’s greatest mysteries within three years. But he has become such a permanent fixture at the loch that he even became a member of Dores Community Council – a position he held for ten years.
He was also named Ambassador of the Year at the Highlands and Islands Tourism Awards.
It was as a seven-year-old on a family holiday to the Highlands that Mr Feltham first visited the loch – and that trip sparked his lifelong obsession.
He returned many times, again as a child and then, as an adult, on a series of two-week ‘expeditions’, armed with a basic camera and his grandfather’s Second World War binoculars – expecting to be able to solve the mystery before he had to return to work.
But in 1991 he knew he had to dedicate more time to his quest. He left his job, fitting security cameras, his home and girlfriend in Dorset to move to the banks of Loch Ness. Within days, his brother located a 20-year-old former mobile library, wood-lined and with a potbelly stove, and it has been Mr Feltham’s home at Dores ever since. After two years of patiently scanning the loch, he finally caught a glimpse of an unexplained disturbance in the water, but he didn’t have his camera to hand.
Since then, he has kept a careful watch on the loch, but Nessie has not shown herself again. Not that he has given up hope.
The adventurer, who makes money by creating models of the monster and selling them to tourists, said: ‘There used to be tourists here for two months of the year – now it’s year-round.
‘Even in lockdown there were people looking from the comfort of their homes, using the loch’s webcam. Interest in the mystery has increased.
‘When I first came, I thought I was looking for a plesiosaur, then a Wels catfish – which is still top of my list. The jury is out – but I definitely think Nessie is an animal.
‘I think we are getting closer to finding the answer.’
Mr Feltham has dismissed scientists’ claims, based on DNA samples from species living in the freshwater loch, that Nessie could be a giant eel.
Around 15 years ago, he met his partner Hilary, 54, on the banks of the loch but he has failed to convince her of Nessie’s existence.
‘She has an open mind and is on the fence,’ he said.
I expect to see the mystery solved well before another 30 years