Ian Bremner was looking for red deer in the Highlands when he noticed three humps emerging from the waters of Loch Ness.

The dad-of-four spends most of his weekends in the region taking photographs of the stunning natural beauty.

But it was not until he got back to his home in Nigg, Invergordon, that he noticed three humps emerging from

The picture shows a two-metre long silver creature swimming away from the lens with its head bobbing away and a tail flapping a metre away, preparing to swim further on.

The apparent creature was spotted coming up for air close to the banks of the loch on Saturday afternoon midway between the villages of Dores and Inverfarigaig.

Ian said: “It’s a part of the world that always makes you second guess what you’re seeing.

More about Loch Ness

In folklore, the Loch Ness Monster is an aquatic being which reputedly inhabits Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is similar to other supposed lake monsters in Scotland and elsewhere, and is often described as being large in size, with a long neck and one or more humps protruding from the water. Popular interest and belief in the creature has varied since it was brought to worldwide attention in 1933. Evidence of its existence is anecdotal, with few disputed photographs and sonar readings.

The creature commonly appears in Western media where it manifests in a variety of ways. A fraction of believers and cryptozoologists propose that the creature represents a line of long-surviving dinosaurs.

In 2003, the BBC sponsored a search of the loch using 600 sonar beams and satellite tracking. The search had sufficient resolution to identify a small buoy. No animal of substantial size was found and, despite their high hopes, the scientists involved admitted that this proved the Loch Ness Monster was a myth.