Is this a new sighting of the Loch Ness Monster?

A veteran beast hunter says he has been left 'dumbfounded' as a webcam trained on Loch Ness allegedly captured a new sighting of the famous monster.

The footage, taken on June 12 over the span of roughly three minutes, was captured using a webcam at the Clansman Hotel on the lake's shore and appears to show something moving just below the surface of the Scottish lake.

Eoin O'Faodhagain was watching the water on a livestream from his home in Ireland when he spotted a mysterious hump emerging from Loch Ness near its northern end.

He claims to have spotted a 'jet black anomaly that was slowly appearing on the surface of the loch, less than a hundred yards from the shoreline.'

The Nessie hunter said: 'I was a bit dumbfounded that it did not dissolve into nothing, but kept materialising ever more distinct and blacker.'

The footage, taken on June 12 over the span of roughly three minutes, was captured using a webcam at the Clansman Hotel on the lake's shore and appears to show something moving just below the surface of the Scottish lake

Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. Alleged sightings of the Loch Ness monster have captured people's imagination for centuries. The earliest sighting of Nessie dates back all the way to the 7th century

Eoin O'Faodhagain (pictured) was watching the water on a webcam from his home in Ireland when he spotted a mysterious hump emerging from Loch Ness near its northern end

The veteran Nessie hunter estimates that the hump was up to nine feet long at the surface.

Mr O'Faodhagain claims the unknown object had to be alive as it was 'moving ever so slowly in a controlled manner, and disappearing without causing any further disturbance.'

The 59-year-old said: 'This object has none of the characteristics of seals or otters,' he said.

'The object is moving as one - a fish or an eel, would be flexing their bodies more.

'It is very hard to say it is definitely Nessie, but it is easy to say what it is not.

'And when you rule out the known creatures that inhabit Loch Ness, what are you left with?'

It was, he said, an 'unexplained anomaly'.

Alleged sightings of the Loch Ness monster have captured people's imagination for centuries. The earliest sighting of Nessie dates back all the way to the 7th century.

The mysterious beast first caught the world's attention when a sighting of the monster was published in The Inverness Courier in May 1933. A year later the supposed first picture of Nessie was taken by a London surgeon called Robert Kenneth Wilson.

Mr O'Faodhagain claims the unknown object had to be alive as it was 'moving ever so slowly in a controlled manner, and disappearing without causing any further disturbance'

The most famous picture of Nessie was taken by by a London surgeon called Robert Kenneth Wilson and was ublished in the Daily Mail in April 1934 and for 60 years many people considered it to be proof of the monster's existence

The picture supposedly showed the creature's head and neck.

It was published in the Daily Mail in April 1934 and for 60 years many people considered it to be proof of the monster's existence. However, by the 1990s most expert concluded the photograph was part of an elaborate hoax.

Sightings of the amphibious creature continue to this day. Over the years, Mr O'Faodhagain has  racked up multiple entries in the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register.

But new restrictions concerning webcam sightings have kept his recent contributions off the record.

The VILN webcams, which captured the footage, can be watched live online at visitinvernesslochness.com

The Clansman Hotel was contacted for comment.

Read more