Northern Lights spotted over York by Paul Mortimer

Paul, who has lived in York all his life and runs a tattoo studio in Osbaldwick, was out at about from about 9.30pm and into the small hours of this morning and spotted the light show low in the sky.

Paul Mortimer's Northern Lights spotted near Castle Howard (Image: PaulMortz)

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He said: "The Northern Lights started very early last night, my shot of the lone tree was taken near Castle Howard at 9.25pm where I stayed photographing a powerful Aurora show non stop until midnight.

"Then I headed back to York and set up again near and York outer bypass A64 at 1am when it went absolutely crazy, definitely one of strongest Aurora shows I have seen at York."

The lights, or Aurora Borealis, appear when atoms in the Earth's high-altitude atmosphere collide with energetic charged particles from the sun.

Paul said he has been fascinated with the aurora ever since he saw his first one on a trip to Norway and the Arctic circle back in 2016. He and wife, Hilary, regularly go out to Iceland to photograph the magical spectacle and document it on their Instagram page: thefearlessaurorahunters.

Paul Mortimer (Image: Frank Dwyer)