By Rachael Grealish

The Northern Lights brightened the UK skies and Cumbrians even got “special” garden views thanks to the Sun’s solar flares.

Brilliant pinks, blues and greens filled the skies on Friday, May 10, as the Aurora Borealis – which is usually only visible from northern parts of the UK, was visible across large parts of Britain overnight – including Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and even southern England.

An Aurora Borealis occurs when charged particles from the sun interact with gases in our atmosphere – in the southern Hempisphere this occurs this is called Aurora Australis.

The MET Office explained this is the “first Extreme Geomagnetic Storm since 2003” as the first signs of the Aurora appeared over the UK after 10pm on Friday.

Trent Bell, 27, from Egremont, told The Herdwick News he’d heard about the possibility of seeing the lights, but “dismissed” the idea, until he got the perfect view from his own back garden.

He said: “I read about it somewhere and totally dismissed it as I didn’t think it would be dark enough in Egremont to see it, so I kinda didn’t bother with it.

“Then my mam rang me about it. It was much brighter than I expected and you could see it move and change colours as well.

“Really glad I got to see it as we’ve always wanted to see it and being able to see it from your own garden is quite special,” he added.

People from all over Cumbria shared their experiences of the Aurora calling it “begulling”, “incredible” and “georgeous”.