Is this the Loch Ness Monster, a new rare photo of a Nessie? It was taken from the banks of Loch Ness, in Scotland; this copyrighted [© Richard Preston] image is being published all over the UK. And now the world.

Richard Preston, a landscape designer, was working on Aldourie Castle gardens on the southern shores of Loch Ness, when the 27-year-old Yorkshireman spotted a shape on the loch’s surface out of the corner of his eye. The object caught his attention at about 3 pm. The images were taken from the grounds of the castle looking towards Lochend.

“It was a glimmer,” Preston reported to The Inverness Courier. “It was like a reflection. The rest of the water was still and dark. It was quite odd. I was gobsmacked. I have been working here for the last two or three years and have never seen anything like it.”

He told the media: “I was just walking through the castle gardens and I spotted something in the distance. When I looked closer I could clearly see the four hump-like features. I thought I’d take a picture of it, to see if there was anything in it, to see what others thought. I was surprised that it stayed there as long as it did. I took various shots of it before it suddenly disappeared. I literally just turned my back and it was gone.”

When asked whether or not he believed in the Loch Ness Monsters, Richard Preston replied: “Well there’s definitely something in the myth. There were no ripples in the water, no boats, nothing around. I have no idea what it was, but it undoubtedly looks like Nessie,” said to STV News.

“I am not saying it is the monster. But I don’t see any reason why it cannot be some sort of a sea-going beast,” Preston told The Inverness Courier.

The pro and con camps are lining up already.

Full-time Nessie hunter Steve Feltham, who lives in a former mobile library (a “caravan” or “trailer,” depending if you are Scottish or American) parked by Dores beach, had this to say: “I am quite excited about these photographs. To me, they are unexplained and Richard is a reliable character. About three-quarters of the way across, you can see what looks like three humps. Initially, I thought they could be the wake of a boat. But there are several photos and the image does not move, whereas if it was a boat wake it would move along to the shore. I don’t know what it is. ”

Loch Ness Monster debunker Adrian Shine, who runs the Loch Ness Project, described the new photo to The Inverness Courier as “interesting but suggested it could be the reflection of the sun on the water, perhaps against a house or leaves.”

(An intriguing and irritating footnote in the reporting coming out of Scotland, no one is saying exactly what day Mr. Preston took his photo. I shall revise and update this posting when this simple fact becomes clear!)

What do you think? A chalky-looking cryptid? A casual misidentification? A fake? A modern mystery captured by a camera? Foam? You be the judge.