Northern Lights captured in amazing early morning photos taken at Brancaster Staithe

A photographer has captured one of nature's greatest displays off the Norfolk coast.

Gary Pearson snapped the Northern Lights at Brancaster Staithe in the early hours of this morning.

He said: "It is pretty unusual for the Northern Lights to be seen or photographed so far down in England.

"On this occasion the conditions were just right to be able to see the pillars and greens of the Aurora with the naked eye, and photograph it using a long exposure to record all the vibrant colours of the Aurora that were not visible to the naked eye.

"I was just getting in to bed when I got an Aurora alert from the Aurora UK Facebook page and Glendale Aurora app, so seized the opportunity and got out of bed again to head to Brancaster Staithe harbour in anticipation to be greeted by a particularly strong Aurora visible on camera and also with the naked eye, though it is not as visible to the naked eye.

"The images were taken between 12:30am and 12:50am."

The Met Office says the lights appear as large areas of colour including pale green, pink, shades of red, yellow, blue and violet in the direction due north.

It says the best conditions to view them are when the sky is dark and clear of any clouds, away from any light pollution in remote areas.

While the northern lights are best witnessed in Scotland, North England, North Wales and Northern Ireland, they can be seen under severe space weather conditions throughout the UK.