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surgeon's photo Loch Ness Monster

Meet the Nessie Hunters

8th Feb 2023

The Loch Ness Centre has been home to The Loch Ness Project for more than 40 years. Set up by Adrian Shine in the mid-1970s, the initiative favours a scientific approach to investigating Loch Ness and its world-famous inhabitant.

At The Loch Ness Centre, we collaborate with many groups and individuals who are united in their desire to uncover the truth about Nessie. Have a read below to find out about the “Nessie Hunters” who inspire us to believe that, with persistence and determination, we will one day solve the mystery of the monster.

Discover the people who have dedicated their lives to uncovering the truth about Nessie.

Adrian Shine

The man who started it all. In 1973, Adrian Shine was an amateur naturalist who was lured from England by the tale of a small Scottish fishing boat being attacked by a monster. He started The Loch Ness Project and brought it to the old Drumnadrochit Hotel, today’s Loch Ness Centre, in the 1980s to investigate the waters of the loch from a naturalist’s point of view.

Adrian has been closely involved with the re-launch of The Loch Ness Centre. Today, visitors to the centre can view the findings of The Loch Ness Project – which is still a working organisation – and inspect his investigative equipment up close.

Adrian Shine

Steve Feltham – Nessie Hunter

Meet the Nessie Hunters

To say that he’s a patient man would be an understatement.

The search for Nessie has inspired many individuals to dedicate their lives to the quest for the monster – perhaps none more so than Steve Feltham, an independent Nessie Hunter. Having sat and waited on the shores of Loch Ness for a decent sighting of the monster since 1991, his commitment to the quest is unparalleled.

Steve visited the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau (LNIB) HQ with his family while on holiday in 1970, which used to conduct round-the-clock surveillance on the banks of Loch Ness near Urquhart Castle each summer. In June 1991, Steve told his family that he intended to become full-time monster hunter and went to live and keep researching by its shores for good.

Loch Ness Exploration

The Loch Ness Centre has committed to providing funding for Loch Ness Exploration (LNE), a voluntary research team run by Alan McKenna and Simon Dawes that observes and studies natural behaviour in Loch Ness. Like us, they seek answers for the more mysterious phenomena that has been recorded.

Their strategy is simple. By using drone and hydrophone technology at different stations around the loch, similar to how the original LNIB operated, McKenna and Dawes reveal the secrets of the loch’s ecosystem and help us reach closer to the truth about its activity.

loch ness exploration

Gary Campbell

Gary Campbell

Gary Campbell set up the Official Loch Ness Sightings Register in 1996 after he realised that no evidence of monster sightings had been recorded since the 1970s.

He is a world-renowned expert in the quest for Nessie. Having collected and analysed reports gathered for, what is now, the longest-running Loch Ness Monster sightings record these past 20 years, he helps others to become involved in the mystery and works hard to promote public understanding of the phenomenon.

Gary is also a dedicated advocate for the responsible scientific investigation of Loch Ness.

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