Scots drop everything to chase 'magical' Northern Lights display

Scots have spoken of their delight after being treated to a "magical" Northern Lights display.

Many shared spectacular images on social media showing the Aurora Borealis lighting up the sky with green, pink and yellow colours.

People in northern, western and eastern Scotland said they rushed to find the best vantage points for the unusual sight.

The Met Office has said that they are "likely" to be seen again on Monday night.

BBC weather watcher Mountains of Scotland took this picture in Portsoy, Aberdeenshire

Claire Allison took this picture on Ayr beach

See Yeen Tan spotted the Northern Lights above Edinburgh

Catherine McPhee saw the Northern Lights on Skye.

She told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland (GMS): "There was a sudden green and yellow glow so I hopped in the car and headed home because I knew it would be nice and dark.

"There was no better way to describe it than purely magical. It was something out of a fairy tale last night for everyone.

"There were just lots of green and yellow dancing across the sky and then the further north west I went it started getting those pink and red hues."

BBC Scotland reporter Steven McKenzie raced to find a good viewing spot too.

"My eldest daughter Ella and I headed up a hill to see them above Inverness. The Northern Lights were amazing last night," he said.

Cat Craig caught a glimpse of the Northern Lights on the road from Glendaruel, Argyll and Bute

BBC Weather Watcher Bluecat captured this view of the spectacle over Dunfermline

This was the scene on Islay, in the Inner Hebrides

Reporter Steven McKenzie and his daughter Ella raced to the top of a local hill above Inverness to get the best view

Emma Wotherspoon saw the lights show above Gairloch in the north-west Highlands.

She told GMS: "I've been out quite a lot since I arrived in Gairloch seven or eight years ago. This was the best, most spectacular show we have ever seen."

The geography teacher, who has been photographing the Northern Lights since 2015, observed an unusual deep pink colour on Sunday night.

"You would normally only see that in the much more northern latitudes," she told GMS. "They are the kind of photos you get from the north of Norway and from Iceland as well.

"It was also much more overhead, rather than looking to the horizon, which is really unusual in Scotland and definitely the first time we've seen that here."

Emma Wotherspoon was among those who snapped pictures of the Aurora Borealis

Chemistry teacher Adrian Allan first saw the lights outside his home, near Dornoch in Sutherland. "I saw a big green arc like a rainbow across the sky," he told GMS.

Mr Allan then headed to Loch Fleet for a better view. "When I got there, I saw the big arc and then eventually you see dancing aurora with various greens and reds and various little patterns and rays appearing across the sky," he said.

"It's one of the brightest I've seen."

He was not the only one taking in the spectacle at Loch Fleet.

"There were other people with tripods there, that you could tell were going to get similar pictures at the same time, a police van with just two police looking at the aurora, enjoying the sight."

Green and pink colours were seen in the skies above Islay

More beautiful colours above Islay

The Northern Lights were also spotted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A Met Office spokesperson said the rare sightings of the aurora borealis further south in the UK on Sunday night were due to the "strength" of a geomagnetic storm and the "strip of cloudless skies" in southern regions.

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