West Midlands skies lit up by Northern Lights

The vivid colours were spotted over Leominster, Herefordshire

The colours of the aurora borealis have been captured by photographers in the skies over the West Midlands.

The vivid pinks, greens and yellows illuminated the region as well as other parts of England on Tuesday evening.

The Northern Lights appear when atoms in the Earth's high-altitude atmosphere collide with energetic charged particles from the Sun, creating light.

Photographers who stayed up to catch a glimpse of the spectacle shared their images with the BBC.

The phenomenon was seen over Sutton Coldfield

Sightings are much rarer during summer in the northern hemisphere when there are only a few hours of darkness.

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Sightings are much rarer during summer but were seen over Stockingford, Warwickshire

The lights appear, as in Leek, Staffordshire, when atoms in the Earth's atmosphere collide with energetic charged particles from the Sun

Aurora borealis

By BBC weather forecaster Simon King

The aurora borealis can happen at any time of year but a major factor to seeing it, of course, is having dark skies.

Sightings are likely to become more regular as we approach the next solar maximum, when the Sun experiences peak activity, in July 2025.

Throughout the summer, the window of opportunity is perhaps only a few hours at most when it is very dark.

Now we're into autumn and the nights are getting longer, we've had our first widespread spotting of the Northern Lights.

Seeing it in north-east England and Cumbria isn't too uncommon but for it to occur so vividly this early on in the autumn is less likely.

The colours were seen over Crewe and photographers were told sightings could become more regular as we approach the peak in solar activity in 2025