On a day when the world turns Irish, many people don’t realise that St Patrick may have actually been a Scot!

Many have it that Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. It is widely thought that Saint Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland, drove the snakes out of Ireland into the sea. He can’t really take credit for that, as the Ice Age took care of snakes long before St. Patrick came along, but he can take credit for converting many Celtic pagans to Christianity during his life.

But he isnt alone! The patron saint of Scotland - Saint Andrew, was born in  Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee & Saint George, patron saint of England, was probably born in Palestine.

Which leaves us with St David - Patron saint of Wales who, for a change,  was actually born in Wales. Not very imaginative in the light of the other 3!

Finally - St Columba, who is said to have warded off the Loch Ness monster with the sign of the cross, was….wait for it…. Irish.

So all in all a fair trade!

A Scot gave the world one of the most widely celebrated Saint’s days in the world , and an Irishman helped launch the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster - one of the moth famous legends in the world!  Both synonymous with their adopted countries.

So regardless if you wear green or tartan, a shamrock or a thistle today in celebration of Saint Patrick day, have a good one!

Great site all about the elusive haggis - and check up on the facts file to find out what links it has…or hasn’t…. to the Loch Ness Monster. PLUS link to the live webcam over Loch Ness.

Enjoy!

Click HERE

The following story was sent to me and it had to be shared….

Lake’s Nessie the shark

July 10, 2008 - 11:53AM (Sorry - I don’t have the original source)

It’s the talk of town, the Central Coast’s own Loch Ness monster, but locals and experts are sceptical that a full-grown seven-metre great white shark could be lurking in Tuggerah Lake.

A commercial fisherman yesterday reported netting and releasing the monster while casting his fishing nets off Canton Beach, on Tuggerah Lake.

“He claimed that he actually caught the shark in his net and the shark came up and started thrashing about, and hit his boat,” said Chief Inspector Tim Winmill said.

A Tuggerah Lakes police spokesman today said there had been no further sightings of the shark.

“The Department of Primary Industries are running the operation, we’re not the shark liaison officers,” he said. The DPI has been contacted for comment.

But John West, Taronga Zoo’s shark expert, said: “I think it’s a hoax - great white’s don’t go into estuarine or lake systems. “In all my knowledge on shark biology and behaviour, that’s unlikely.

“It wouldn’t even fit in that lake, I don’t know how deep the entrance is but you’d need several metres for a shark that big to get into it.

“A large shark like that would stick out like dog’s b*lls.”

Soldiers Beach Surf Life Saving Club president Mick Crowe said the whopping carnivore was “the talk of the area”.

He was unsure if it had deterred holiday makers. “This time of year they don’t get too many people in the Lake anyway, other than a few diehards. It’s absolutely freezing cold and there’s a howling wind.”

He too was sceptical a great white could be in the lake.

“There’s no chance a shark that big could get into the entrance, you could just about walk across the entrance channel [because it’s so shallow].”

Chief Inspector Tim Winmill said there had been reports of a baby great white shark in the lake a few years ago.

While stressing it was highly unlikely, Mr West said it was possible a baby great white may have snuck through the entrance to the lake.

“But if it got into there it would be trying to find its way out. They don’t tolerate the drops in salinity.

“It could probably survive for a period but how long I don’t know because they don’t go into those areas.”

Mr West said if there was a shark in the lake, it was more likely to be a bull shark.

“It’s part of a bull shark’s natural behaviour to move up into fresh water,” he said. “But they only grow up to three metres long.

“The fisherman saying it was seven metres could have been an exaggeration, but that’s a story he’ll have to explain.”

We recently spotted this news item in The Mirror - click through to the link to see for yourself!

Could this be the Loch Ness Monster?

By Hannah Wood, Mirror.co.uk 2/07/2008

New video footage has emerged of a potential sighting of dinosaur-like creature the Loch Ness Monster.

David Garside and his dad Graham were on holiday in Scotland in April when they believe the creature of legend appeared to them.

During a tourist boat trip on the loch, they spotted something strange in the distance so zoomed in with their video camera to get a better look.

David, 31, said: “I couldn’t really see what it was but I thought it looked sort of like a crocodile’s back or something. I was videotaping the boat tour though so I used my zoom lens to get a closer look and luckily I caught it on camera.

See full article and video HERE

A week of weird and wonderful sightings across the country culminated last night (Wednesday June 25th) in a magical appearance by the fabled Loch Ness Monster, known by some as the Water Horse.

Using the latest water screen technology, a crew of experts recreated a scene from the magical family film The Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep to provide Loch Ness Monster fans with an incredible, indelible visual confirmation of a much-loved legend.

The event was captured to celebrate the DVD and Blu-ray release of The Water Horse: Legend Of The Deep on 30th June 2008. . Details of how to download video footage of this incredible event are below.

Professor Terry Stevens of Destination Loch Ness, the destination management organisation for the area has been very supportive of the creative activity, saying:

“It is hoped that global awareness of Loch Ness generated by The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep will help support the community in their bid to achieve World Heritage status, based on its outstanding natural scenery and extraordinary cultural history and of course the infamy of the Monster.”

The Latest sighting in front of Urquhart Castle! 

The Water Horse Legend Of The Deep is available on DVD and Blu-ray from 30^th June, 2008.

FOOTAGE IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD VIA WWW.DIGITALNEWSAGENCY.COM

Click HERE

75 years ago on May 2^nd 1933, the modern legend of the Loch Ness monster was born when a sighting made the local news. There had been accounts of an aquatic beast living in Scotland’s Loch Ness that dates back over 1,500 years.

Every year thousands of visitors come to Loch Ness to see if they can catch a glimpse of the most famous lake or loch dweller in the World. Some have even stayed on to live on the shores of Loch Ness to continue to search for her and any sighting of Nessie makes new around the world!

Nessie has been immortalised in film, television, advertising, postcards, cartoons and music.

In fact mention Scotland any where in the world and Loch Ness and the Loch Ness monster is sure to be one of the first things that people think about.

The Loch Ness Monster has entered international parlance for something that is elusive or unbelievable. Perhaps in a world where so many things appear black and white - Nessie fills a need to believe in something that may never be proved.

Debate will always go on about whether or not the Loch Ness Monster is real….but if she is, she couldn’t have picked a more beautiful place to live!

Happy Birthday Nessie!

It’s one of those things - the world has taken Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster to their heart

‘Her’ latest incarnation is in New York where Artist Joshua Allen Harris pieced together some garbage bags and taped them to a New York City subway grate. Now every time an underground train zooms by, the Loch Ness monster attacks.

To view the video click HERE

 Love it! 

Many dream of coming to Scotland with hopes of spotting the elusive Nessie, the legendary monster said to reside here.

But if you just cant wait you may be able to view the mythic beast at home in the wee hours of the morning.

Set your alarm to 3:14 a.m. and your browser to the beach-themed iGoogle page.

At precisely that time each day, Nessie allegedly surfaces for 60 seconds, then takes a deep breath and dives back under the dark loch’s surface. Why that time of the morning? Well, according to programmers’ lore, Google developers did it to pay homage to the mathematical quantity Pi.

Some things you just cant make up…..

Recently in the news it has been reported that as a conservation measure, any angler witnessed catching and releasing a spring salmon in the Ness system will receive a side of smoked salmon in return.

This has been prompted by a marked decline in spring fish stocks, so as part of its efforts to reverse this, the Ness District Fishery Board is issuing a detailed Catch and Release policy for the system.

To ensure those who return A fresh run “springer” prize fish from Loch Ness and its rivers do not go away empty handed, the board has introduced the reward scheme to emphasize the importance of releasing as many spring salmon as possible.

To claim their reward anglers should fill in one of the forms, available from either the licence issuer or beat representative.

Further, to encourage and promote catch and release the board has introduced a draw incorporating the spring fishing on all rivers within the system.

Names of angler and witness should be submitted to the licence issuer, gillie or angling club president who will keep them until the end of the spring fishing (16th June). The winners will be announced at the beginning of July 2008.

The prizes are: 1 – A Daiwa fly rod; 2 – £50 voucher for Graham’s tackle shop; 3 – two bottles of malt whisky and various other prizes. A shield will awarded to the angler releasing the biggest spring fish.

There have been no details reported of what the prize would be should a lucky angler manage to hook Nessie, but I’m sure that the rewards would be huge!*

* Please note - this Blogger would like to stress that if Nessie is caught, she should, of course, be released.

In my daily web trawl for all things Loch Ness I come accross some odd places where our beloved Loch Ness monster pops up.

The latest incarnation seems to be as an omelet in Las Vegas. Thier self named ‘Loch Ness Monster’ is a exciting concotion of Gulf shrimp, avocado, cheddar cheese and …wait for it….6 eggs! I’m not quite sure why this combination leads to it being named after our most famous resident (the shores of Loch Ness are not known to be groaning under the weight of avocado trees, and it ’s not the eggs - all of this place’s 41 types of omelets are made with 6 eggs!). Still - when one of our local hoteliers takes his holiday to the casinos of Las Vegas shortly - Ill know where to send him! (Ah heck - see the menu here )

Keeping to the theme of eggs… The Waterhorse: Legend of the deep will be released in UK cinemas on Feb 8th 2008. As of Jan 29th it has taken $39,580,173 at the US box office.

And now for something completley different.

The AA has included Loch Ness in one of its top 10 drives around the UK

10. Highland Scotland From the shores of Loch Ness to the west coast fishing communities of Wester Ross

Route: Inverness-Drumnadrochit-Invermoriston-( <the Loch Ness Route) Dundreggan-Eilean Donan Castle-Stromeferry-Strathcarron Station-Lochcarron-Applecross-Fearnmore-Shieldaig-Torridon-Gairloch-Inverewe Garden-Gruinard Bay-Ardessie-Garve-Contin-Strathpeffer-Moniack Castle-Reelig Glen-Inverness.

Details of all 10 drives are contained in the book The AA Best Drives Britain, £11.99.