WYRE Forest residents were treated to a rare sight this week as the Northern Lights were visible in some areas.

Also known as the aurora borealis, the Northern Lights put on a stunning show across the UK on Monday night (August 12), with sightings reported across the Wyre Forest.

Sara Jayne Clarke enjoyed the display in the comfort of her garden in Stourport.

She said: "I was amazed as I missed the ones in May and have never seen it before."

Andy Shakespeare snapped several shots of the aurora in Shatterford, near Bewdley, sharing the photos on social media.

Jenna Partington, who lives in Bewdley, said: "I have been lucky enough to see them in Iceland and never thought I would get a chance to see them again from my window at home. 

"I enjoy the excitement of waiting for the night mode photo to load to reveal the coloured lights".

According to the Met Office, the Northern Lights are usually best witnessed in Scotland, northern England, North Wales and Northern Ireland.

However, under certain space weather conditions – a particularly strong geomagnetic storm – they can be seen throughout the UK.

The natural light display is caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with Earth’s magnetic field.

The colour display depends in part on what molecules the charged particles interact with.

The Met Office forecast suggests the activity should return back to background levels on Tuesday, with any visible aurora restricted to the far north of Scotland.

Clear skies across the country also meant people were able to catch a glimpse of the Perseids on Monday night.

The event is associated with the dusty debris left by Comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years.

The meteoroids from the comet, mostly no bigger than a grain of sand, burn up as they hit the Earth’s atmosphere at 36 miles per second, to produce a shooting stream of light in the sky.