A phenomenon usually reserved for more northern climates was spotted across Wiltshire last night, as the Northern Lights were seen by many.

Keen stargazers and readers have shared the stunning pictures they took across social media and with this newspaper’s Camera Club.

The Aurora Borealis were seen in all their glowing blue and green hues over many familiar landmarks in and around Wiltshire.

Pictures come from every corner of the county - from Swindon to Avebury to the Uffington White Horse and Stonehenge.

They lend these spots an even greater element of magic rarely seen in this part of the country.

But those who took the pictures were ready. Night sky watchers predicted that this evening would be a good night to see the phenomenon due to a combination of clear skies and one of the strongest geomagnetic storms for years.

The last storm of this power was more than 20 years ago in October 2003 and caused power outages in Sweden, said Professor Carole Haswell on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme on Saturday.

He said: “The purple, blue and pink comes from nitrogen and when you get a very strong aurora sometimes you see a sort of scarlet red, and that comes from oxygen which is higher in the earth’s atmosphere, at an altitude of about 180 miles.”