Loch Ness monster spotted by stunned newly weds spot on their honeymoon – after spate of seven new sightings

A STUNNED woman enjoying her honeymoon at Loch Ness had a monster surprise.

Newly wed Rebecca Stewart was touring with husband Paul when she became the seventh person to spot Nessie this year.

Mrs Stewart from Chadderton, Oldham, Lancashire, photographed and saw the large fin shape for five minutes.

Her husband also saw the creature which gatecrashed their honeymoon.

Shop manager Mrs Stewart's sighting on Monday at Fort Augustus has now been accepted by the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register.

"It was hard to tell on size, however birds would fly near it and (they) looked very small in comparison to the thing in the water. We were on the pier and the thing was over near what looks like a small boat house. Birds would fly near it and quickly fly away from it," she said in her report.

"A boat came from the canal and the thing then disappeared. We didn't have binoculars unfortunately and I used my iPhone to take the photos.

"I zoomed in as much as I could then zoomed the photo I took and screen shot it. The shape of the thing looks like a fin. My husband was with me. We are here on honeymoon and the sighting took us by surprise."

The couple, who took several photos of the object were convinced it was the large fin of a shark, although admitting to being confused as to how such an animal could have travelled so far from the sea, surviving the change from saltwater to freshwater.

However TV adventurer Jeremy Wade speculated in his series River Monsters that Nessie may be a giant Greenland Shark that swam in from the sea.

Mrs Stewart, a former volunteer at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, said: "We were standing on the jetty at Fort Augustus and it was on the foyers side of the loch and we were on the west side of the loch.

"My opinion is it looks more like a shark shape, but I can't think of any shark that big that could survive in cold fresh water. There is access to the sea but it's a long way away."

Mr Stewart, a sales executive, said "it had to be something big and very much alive!"

When asked by the Beasts of Britain blog if he too thought that the object could be the fin of a shark, he said: "We have watched documentaries about Greenland sharks and porpoises to see if it's possible they could be the culprit.

"But if this was a fin we saw, then I don't think it could be either of these animals as they only have quite small fins in proportion to their body size.

"I'm just so baffled now. I just don't see these animals having a fin as big as the one we saw."

Gary Campbell, the recorder and keeper of the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register said it was a "good" glimpse of Nessie.

"What they saw and for several minutes was clearly animate and something quite large," he said. "It is certainly something to remember their honeymoon by."

Mr Campbell said this year had now matched 2016 as a "fantastic" year for Nessie sightings - with seven recorded - and it was due mainly to the growth of smartphones and webcams and from boats.

He said two of last year's sightings were by webcam, including one from an online watcher in America.

"It means that there are more people than ever before are looking for Nessie," said Mr Campbell.

"In fact, you have to go back to 2000 when there were 11 sightings, for more appearances of Nessie.

"This year is turning out to be a vintage one for Nessie. We have four more months left and we are on course for one of her best years."

After fears that the world's most famous monster had gone "missing," the first official sighting of Nessie this year was logged on April 28 - to the relief of her worldwide fans. The last previous sighting was August 21, 2016.

Mr Campbell stressed that the majority of claimed sightings do not get included on the register - as most can be explained.

"Anything that is later proved to a hoax or can be subsequently explained is removed from the register," said Mr Campbell, 51, a chartered accountant from Inverness.

It was in 1996, Mr Campbell saw something resembling a "mini whale" - with a black shiny back - at the south end of the loch.

"I have spent the last 21 years trying to explain it," admitted Mr Campbell. "Like most sightings I only saw it for a few seconds. When I went to record it, I found there was no register, so I started one, the following May."

Since then Mr Campbell has logged over 1080 sightings.

According to Google, there are around 200,000 searches each month for the Loch Ness Monster, and around 120,000 for information and accommodation close to Loch Ness. The monster mystery is said to be worth £30m to the region.

Irish missionary St Columba is first said to have encountered a beast in the River Ness in 565AD.

Among the most famous claimed sightings is a photograph taken in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson.

The image was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged.

The Home Office recently rejected a cheeky bid by a group of artists from Glasgow to grant the Loch Ness Monster permanent UK residency after Brexit.

And a scientist has revealed his plans to DNA test the waters of Loch Ness in another bid to determine once and for all if Nessie exists.

Professor Neil Gemmell will look for traces of unusual DNA by gathering water samples from the Scottish loch before analysing them using police forensic techniques.

Professor Gemmell, of New Zealand's University of Otago, thinks this could solve the monster mystery.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.