Northern lights captured above Scottish hills in stunning photos

By Elizabeth Hunter

An amateur photographer has captured stunning shots of the Northern Lights in a star-studded sky above hills in the Scottish Highlands.

Sylvan Buckley, 49, was able to capture flashes of red and green light above Beinn a 'Chrulaiste, near the iconic Glen Coe.

The stunning shots show sparkling auroras, with clear skies providing a backdrop of brightly shining stars.

Photographer Sylvan had heard about the possibility of an aurora appearing in the skies - and raced out to try his hand at capturing the perfect shot, on New Year's Day.

"I was just finishing New Year dinner when I got an alert from the Aurora Watch UK app on my phone to say that there was a red aurora alert for possible aurora activity that night so I decided to take the opportunity to take a wee trip up to the Isle of Skye for a few days," he said.

"On my way up to the Isle of Skye, I stopped of at one of my favorite locations in Scotland, Glen Etive and Glen Coe.

"It's not a common location for aurora hunting as the majority of the activity is generally hidden behind Beinn A'Chrulaiste to the north. However, as soon as I arrived I could see that there was lots of bright reds and greens in the sky to the North over Beinn A'Chrulaiste.

"I was hoping to get a photo that had a foreground element in it so I quickly ran down to Glen Etive Waterfall to try and capture the Northern Lights over the top of the waterfall with the Iconic Buachaille Etive Mor behind the waterfall on the left and the aurora just over the Devil's Staircase behind on the right."

Sylvan even managed to snap a picture of a red sub auroral arc - a rare phenomenon that occurs when solar particles react with oxygen at higher altitudes, and is often invisible to the naked eye.

"I'd seen the Orion Constellation over the top of Glen Etive with the Glencoe Ski Resort on the left covered in snow, and the Buachaille Etive Mor to the right so though I'd grab a quick panorama photo of the scene before moving on - but when I looked in the back screen of the camera I could see the Sub Auroral Arc," said Sylvan.

"This phenomenon is well known and well studied but is rare due to the fact that it's mostly invisible to the naked eye. which I couldn't see myself till I seen it on the back of the camera which is why I was so pleasantly surprised, especially since this was facing south.

"I was over the moon to have captured this, as that one rare capture really made the whole trip worthwhile and it was only the first couple of hours into a 4day photo trip.

"The rest of the trip was fantastic too with some lovely wintry conditions on Skye, which was perfect for this amateur photographer on a spur-of-the-moment trip during the holidays!"