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Bownessie The Windermere Lake Monster

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Bownessie - has Scotland's Loch Ness Monster got an English cousin in Windermere?

Lake Monsters have been reported for centuries with sightings from all over the Earth. The question remains are they myth or legend, or a reality. In the past several years a new Lake Monster has surfaced in Britain that has been nicknamed Bownessie, not just because of the location - Bowness-on-Windermere, within the Lake District National Park, but also as a nod to her famous cousin of the highlands of Scotland - Nessie, The Loch Ness Monster!! It is a mystery which is receiving more attention from those who study Cryptozoology.*
Windermere is England's largest natural lake at 10 and a half miles long, 1 mile wide and approximately 220 feet deep. The main reason to visit Windermere is of course the beautiful and often stunning natural surroundings and scenery.
However for those who like a little bit of mystery there is now another reason. Could Bownessie be a cryptid - an undiscovered species or a living relic - an animal thought to be long extinct, such as a plesiosaur ? She is being dubbed as England's answer to the Loch Ness Monster.

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*Cryptozoology - a branch of Zoology studying unknown or undiscovered animals.

Click the pictures or text links to see more Bowessie photos

Various newspaper clippings of Bownessie and Linden Adams

Windermere photographer Linden Adams saw the mysterious animal back in 2007 from the vantage point of Gummers How. His subsequent pictures of a large dark 'something' breaking the waters have been analysed by photographic experts who remain baffled by what the photos show.
Photographer Linden Adams saw something beneath the surface of Windermere and immediately reached for his camera.

He claims to have captured the first photograph of Windie, or the Bowness Monster, a serpent-like creature long rumoured to have taken up residence in England's biggest lake.

"The water was unbelievably peaceful and then this huge thing appeared, diving and thrashing around," said 35-year-old Mr Adams, a father-of-two from Bowness-on-Windermere.

"It dwarfed everything. It was jaw-dropping."

Mr Adams and his wife, Louise, were taking photos from a hillside nearby when a splash in the water caught their eye.

"I snatched the binoculars from my wife and gasped when I got a better look," said Mr Adams.

"I could see this huge dark thing moving in the water.

"I didn't know what it was but it had a head like a labrador dog, only much, much bigger. I know the lake well and this was no freak wave.

"I was a sceptic before but this has really opened my mind to what might be in the lake."

Last September, experts in the supernatural from The Centre for Fortean Zoology visited the lake after a tourist claimed to have spotted a 20ft creature swimming in the water.

Dr Charles Paxton, a marine biologist at the University of St Andrews and an expert in the discovery of new sea creatures, has studied the pictures.

He said: "What the photograph shows is very intriguing and I wouldn't rule out any possibilities. New species of water creatures are still being discovered. I will be going to Lake Windermere very soon and will be spending some time trying to find any new creatures.
"But until someone brings this creature onto dry land in a net, we won't have proof."*

* Source: The Northern Echo.

Images by kind permission of Linden Adams

Linden's second sighting

Intrigued by his initial photo, Dr Charles Paxton asked Mr Adams to go and take pictures of anything unusual looking on the lake. This was the second time that the photographer saw the creature (or whatever it is) and was able to take a series of pictures. These can be found on on the Linden Adams website. The photos were taken with Camera Raw. Raw image files, which are sometimes called digital negatives, fulfil the same role as negatives in film photography. The raw image files are not directly usable as images but contain all the information, which is encoded by Canon Labs, necessary to create them. These were then sent for forensic study by a local expert who declared them as genuine.

Cool Nessie Lamps

Fun poseable cute lamps with a Lake Monster theme

Estimated size and distance

When I spoke to him, Linden was clear that whatever it was he saw that day (using powerful binoculars that allowed for greater observation than the camera) it was driving itself through the waters, not merely floating along as a branch or log would do. The target was moving east to west rather than moving south along the lake as floating debris would and also changed direction. His sighting lasted a full ten minutes, and he also observed there was more than one.
With measurable objects both in front of and behind the target, such as boats, caravans and houses, and using Ordinance Survey mapping they were able to triangulate the target's position and pinpoint it's distance from the camera at just under 3 kilometers. The size of the object visible above the waters surface was estimated at approximately 4 metres,12-14 feet in length and a metre or 3 feet high. The size overall was some 9 metres or 30 feet in length. Whatever it is it's big!!!

Sightings of Bownessie

Many people claim to have seen something unusual on the Lake. This sighting was reported in The Westmorland Gazette:

A HOLIDAYMAKER has spoken of his horror at seeing a Loch Ness-type monster' emerge from the depths of Windermere , report Paul Duncan and Peter Otway.

University lecturer Steve Burnip and his wife, Eileen, were shocked at seeing the serpent-like creature surface from the waters as they stood at a well-known viewpoint.

"I was absolutely flabbergasted, I just stood there and couldn't believe what I was looking at," said Mr Burnip, who has been holidaying in the area for 13 years with his family.

He claimed the creature was about 15-20ft long with a little head and two small humps following in its wake. "It was like a giant eel."

Mr Burnip, who is 51 and from Hebden Bridge, was looking out from Watbarrow point that looks across the lake to Waterhead.
"I am absolutely convinced that there is a big creature in the lake," said Mr Burnip. "I am really pleased that there is a renewed interest in it because I know what I saw.

"I can see it in my head now, this grey lump and the humps breaking the water like you see in the classic Loch Ness pictures. There is something in there, something quite big and elusive."

Ian Winfield, a fish ecologist for the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology at Lancaster University, believes Mr Burnip could have seen a catfish, as they have been introduced to a lot of lakes for angling.

"The Wels catfish comes from mainland Europe and can grow to about 500cm and weigh up to 306kg and there have been numerous records of catfish washing up dead in Cumbrian lakes," said Mr Whitfield.*

Keep checking this space as more sightings will be added soon!

Source: The Westmorland Gazette *
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A Monster Hunting We Will Go

Local team go looking for the mysterious creature

Thomas Noblett, owner of Langdale Chase Hotel on Windermere, and celebrity and sports psychic Dean Maynard took to the water on a chartered yacht on Saturday 11th September 2010 hoping to find evidence of a large animal in the 10 and a half mile Lake. The pair used sonar equipment to aid them in their quest, and claim that they picked up some interesting traces. Noblett explained "We did pick something up and then it disappeared." *
The search was their second attempt at finding evidence of the creature, the first search took place on September 19 2009 (accompanied by Windermere photographer Linden Adams, who first photgraphed the 'monster'). To help them in their latest efforts the team used a 2-D imaging camera.
Mr Noblett claimed he had a close encounter with the creature whilst swimming in the lake back in July 2009. The hotelier told Sky News: 'All of a sudden I felt something brush past my legs like a giant fish. And then I was lifted up by a three-foot wave. I've no idea what it was.'

"I go swimming across there and there is definitely something lurking. It is a big lake and all the char are being eaten. There have been various sightings." *

*Source: Lancashire Evening Post

A case of mistaken identity?

Lake Windermere has plenty of life in it. Fish life includes pike, perch, char and trout, as well the bird life such as the gulls, swans and ducks one would expect on any lake. Just look at the picture on the right: could this be Bownessie? I took this photo myself on Windermere in 2008, and know the identity of the animal in the mysterious image. But for now I'll let you guess what it is.
To find the answer do the lake monster quiz further down on this lens.

Lake monster candidates

Animals that could be responsible for sightings

Many experts dismiss the idea that lake monsters such as The Loch Ness Monster and Champ of Lake Champlain could be surviving ancient marine reptiles like the Plesiosaur. Fossil remains indicate that these giant, long necked fish eaters died out some 65 million years ago. These experts argue that to be even considered as a possibility, there would have to be fossils dated much more recently, say at least within a few thousand years. If you agree with this view, then you are left to consider just what known creatures could be mistaken for lake monster sightings. One theory is that they could be sterile eels that have grown to great size. Normally when eels reach sexual maturity they head off to the sea to breed. However sterile eels who don't go through this process simply remain in their home waters and continue to grow larger and larger.
Another possibility is the sturgeon...

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The Sturgeon theory

A theory, espoused by respected Loch Ness naturalist Adrian Shine , is that Baltic Sturgeon could have found there way into Loch Ness from the sea to mate and spawn. These sturgeon can grow very large to around 12 feet in length, and are very reptilian in appearance. They also have a long snout which they raise out of the water that could be mistaken for a neck. Certainly a giant sturgeon, like the one in the picture above, breaking the surface would be an impressive sight indeed. The European variety found in fresh water however tend to be considerably smaller.

As seen (or not) on Sky News

Feature From Lakes TV Ltd

There's something in the water...

Featured on ITV's 'The Lakes' with Rory McGrath

As one might expect from Rory, a more humourous search for the beast...

Bownessie The Windermere Lake Monster

Bownessie - has Scotland's Loch Ness Monster got an English cousin in Windermere?

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Linden Adams photographs the creature

Click the pictures or text links to see more Bowessie photos

Linden's second sighting

Cool Nessie Lamps

Fun poseable cute lamps with a Lake Monster theme

Estimated size and distance

Sightings of Bownessie

More Cool Nessie Lamps and Models

A Monster Hunting We Will Go

Local team go looking for the mysterious creature

A case of mistaken identity?

Lake monster candidates

Animals that could be responsible for sightings

Lake Monster Stuff on Amazon

The Sturgeon theory

As seen (or not) on Sky News

Feature From Lakes TV Ltd

Featured on ITV's 'The Lakes' with Rory McGrath

Amazon Voting (Plexo)

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Before Bownessie there was...'The Pike'!

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