GLEN VAUDREY: Where have all the sea-serpents gone?

During the nineteenth century the Western Isles of Scotland would on average have sightings of a sea serpent every twenty years. They would range from the great sinuous many humped type to the merhorse and long necked sea serpent. These sightings would continue at the same frequency all the way up to the end of the First World War and then they appear to have upped flippers and headed off somewhere else.

It would be in the late 1950s before these waters would once more see a mystery sea creature, on that occasion a giant turtle would be seen swimming in the waters between Soay and Skye. Impressive as a giant turtle is it is not a sea serpent.

So where have they all gone? It would be extremely sad to think that some of the great mystery animals of the deep have become extinct before they can be positively identified but it is quite possible that that could be the case in this instance.

But perhaps there are other less extreme reasons than extinction to explain their absence from these waters, before we give up the search let’s consider some possible explanations for the recent dearth of sightings. The first thing to consider is the effect technology has had on sea vessels, they have not only got bigger they have got louder, and despite the much larger size of the ships there are perversely less crew members needed to man them and therefore less people to look out across the waves. Add to that ships rarely drift out of the shipping lanes and into unexpected sea serpent-infested waters. So perhaps the sea serpent prefers the quieter waters where it can have no fear of being run down by a passing cargo ship as it happily basks on the surface.

But then again the reason for the sea serpent’s absence may have more to do with fish stocks. In the early part of the twentieth century the herring stocks in these waters collapsed, gone for good were the days when the local harbours would be full to bursting with fishing boats, today you would be lucky to find more than a handful. So perhaps this lack of fish is the cause that drove the sea serpents away, if so perhaps one day if the fish stocks improve we may once again see the return of sea serpents to the Western Isles.

MEDWAY MONSTER MISTAKE MOOTED

In Animals & Men #42 we published the following story:

Numerous people reported seeing something unusual swimming against the tide in the River Medway as it passed through the town of Rochester in Kent, England.Several people thought that it may have been a school of dolphins but one lady reported seeing a single 9m (30ft) long creature. She said the animal was grey to mottled brown and moved like an eel in the direction of the Amadeus nightclub. This picture, by the way, was a mock up by the paper’s art department.

Yesterday teatime we received this e-mail from a CFZ member called Patrick Noble:

"Afternoon Jon (and probably Oll as you wrote the article), After seeing the article mentioned above I had a little chuckle to myself, as I live about 100yds downstream on a houseboat, and am very much aware of the natural way of things in the river. Needless to say 9m long sea serpents are not something I can attest to seeing on a regular basis! I though the dolphins to be a plausible but unlikely theory, however they are not unheard of in this area.

I thought it more likely to be a piece of tree floating along as this is frequent at this spot. I took these photos today of the lesser horned sea serpent from the back of the boat earlier today, hope you enjoy! Seriously freak high tide today as well, flooded the boatyard, about 4ft higher than I've ever seen it before.

On a more naturalist than crypto note, I firmly belive that the new british record Thick Lipped Grey Mullet will be caught from the medway in the next 5 years, even though the species is in decline for a variety of reasons not helped by it's slow growing and late maturing nature.

Kind Regards
Patrick"