The Met Office , externalsaid the overnight displays were linked to activity on the sun on Wednesday and resulted in severe geomagnetic storms.

In a forecast earlier this week, British Geological Survey, external (BGS) said there had been the possibility of a G4 category geomagnetic storm overnight.

UK sky-watchers on Monday night were treated to the rare phenomenon known as Steve, a relatively new scientific discovery that looks like the aurora.

Forecasters said the chances of seeing the aurora would gradually ease through Friday, and would become increasingly confined to northern latitudes by Sunday.

Dark autumn and winter nights offer the best chance of seeing displays - if skies are clear - and there are websites, apps and social media groups providing forecasts and alerts for when they might occur.

BBC Weather Watchers and BBC Scotland News website readers were among those to capture the aurora, including from Kilsyth.

The lights are caused by charged particles from the sun hitting gases in the Earth’s atmosphere, and overnight were visible as far south as Buckinghamshire and London.