A Loch Ness Monster expert believes most sightings of the fabled beast have a very simple explanation.
Adrian Shine - who founded the Loch Ness Project and led the Operation Deepscan Nessie hunt in 1987 - is convinced most people who think they see a huge creature in the water are actually looking at wakes from large boats which have passed by. Adrian also thinks the construction of the Caledonian Canal in early nineteenth century to connect the country's waterways is responsible for creating the wakes that led to the Nessie myth.
Speaking to Robson Green in his World's Most Amazing Walks series, Adrian explained: "The persistence of boat wakes is one of the things that has created the multi-humped stereotype of the Loch Ness Monster and there the Caledonian Canal is the crucial factor because of course it runs through all the lochs of the great glen.
"But it is that canal which brought large vessels making big wakes and therefore big monsters."
Host Robson went on to admit his conversation with Adrian didn't leave him with any clear answers on whether Nessie does actually exist.
He said: "I remember the Deepscan Expedition like it was yesterday and what Adrian has just explained to me is that they can't really prove that a creature exists under these waters but they can't disprove it either."
It comes after another Loch Ness Monster expert - Gary Campbell, who set up the Official Loch Ness Monster Sighting Register - explained why there are so few sightings of the fabled creature.
Gary has been searching for the beast ever since he experienced a strange sighting at the fabled Scottish tourist attraction back in 1996 - and he’s convinced Nessie must live at the very bottom of the loch and only surfaces occasionally.
He told the Press and Journal newspaper: "Whatever it is, there must be more than one, and I think they live deep down in Loch Ness and are occasionally forced to the surface for some reason and go straight back down again, and that’s why there’re so few sightings."
Gary insisted most sightings on the water can be easily debunked but every year there are "at least four or five" sightings of "something unexplained".
He also revealed members of the public are pretty helpful when it comes to finding logical explanations for potential Nessie sightings. He said: "About three or four years ago, we had people that took pictures of this black thing sticking out of the water near Urquhart Castle.
"We put it up [on the official sightings register] and some guys reached out and said that it was not Nessie, but them paddleboarding.
"One guy actually provided a GoPro image of him on the paddle board with his friend next to him at exactly the same time the picture was taken, so we removed the image from the register."