I’ve been fortunate to witness and photograph the northern lights many times during my visits to the Arctic, but until 2024, I had never seen them in the UK. To my surprise and delight, I had the rare opportunity to photograph the aurora near my home in the south of England. The display was extraordinary, with pink hues that were distinctly different from the purplish skies I captured during a previous aurora display at Corfe, and even more so from the vibrant greens typical of the ones I have seen in Norway.
These unique colors likely result from the dominance of nitrogen over oxygen in the aurora’s formation. Nitrogen emissions are far less common, usually appearing only during the most intense solar storms. In the UK, we only experience such strong auroras, making the rare pink hues an even more special phenomenon.
Location: Corfe Castle, Dorset, UK