Jaw-dropping pictures show the Northern Lights, known as Aurora Borealis above a Scottish bridge this week. Darren Skinner captured the scene at Kessock Bridge in Inverness near midnight on Sunday.
The 37-year-old local had been out earlier in the evening but a bright moon had weakened the Aurora’s impact. But conditions changed, so he rushed from his home to catch the short-lived spectacle.
Darren, a greenkeeper at Castle Stuart Golf Links, explains: "Watching online, the Aurora stats changed in our favour, and with the clear skies I looked out my house window in the middle of town and could see the lights moving across the sky. This alone is a first for me seeing them that bright in the city with the light pollution, so at midnight I went out even though I was up at 6am for work.
"My nearest stop with something with a decent foreground to make the shot was the bridge, so I timed it perfectly to get the display which only lasted a matter of minutes then there was nothing. All of the photos are four shots stacked together to make a panoramic photo.
"They pretty much came out that green. They were shot at 10-second exposures which lets in more light or colour than what you see you the naked eye, but you could still see them clearly moving across the sky with your naked eye. It was amazing.”
