Like most people, I’ve always wanted to see the northern lights. I’ve been to Norway and Finland, but wasn’t lucky enough to see them on these occasions. To my surprise, I instead saw them on an early summer’s evening in South Wales!
I was sat on the beach around a campfire with a group of friends, when we noticed the sky had a white/pink/green streak in it. At first, we thought it was just a cloud, or a far off foglight. As timed passed, the streak became more distinct and colourful.
I managed to take some pictures on my Iphone’s night mode (excuse the poor quality). In all honesty, the night mode makes it look much more colourful that it was in person, but it was still a sight to behold. In person, it looked a little more like the stock image below.
We wondered whether we were seeing the northern lights, but couldn’t be sure, as it seemed so unlikely. From videos I had seen before, I expected them to be moving in a wave light motion, but apparently this is only visible on a timelapse and they are actually fairly static in real time.
The next day, it was all over social media/the news that Aurora Borealis was visible all over the UK due to a solar storm!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1ej1kk0d88o
It just so happens, on the same night on the beach, we saw and swam in bioluminescent plankton!
I have seen this phenomenon 4 times now in South Wales, each time equally as special. If you’re not sure what I meant, this is when there are plankton present in the water, which glow blue when disturbed with motion.
Stay tuned for another post on bioluminescent plankton, and advice on how to see bioluminescent plankton in South Wales!