The Northern Lights have shone across the Northumberland coast.

       Spectators at Howick watched as the spectacular green flare appeared over the North East on Friday.

       The weather phenomenon was captured on camera by PA news agency photographer Owen Humphreys, who described it as “a great show”.

       “What a great show last night at Howick in Northumberland coast,” he tweeted.

       “As soon as it was dark we had the Northern Lights showing, then two big bursts of activity, green in the sky for several hours.”

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       (Owen Humphreys/PA)

       (PA Wire)

       One Twitter user wrote “I cannot imagine just how glorious it must be to see the sky light up like that. One day I hope I get to witness it for myself.”

       Another simply tweeted “Absolutely stunning”.

       The phenomenon, which is a common sight over the Arctic, northern Canada, Scandinavia and Russia, is rarely visible in the UK.

       But towards the end of last year, the northern lights were seen as far south as Devon. Weeks before, stargazers in Yorkshire enjoyed a rare glimpse of the colourful event.

       The light show is due to eletrically-charged particles from the sun tha collide with the Earth’s magnetosphere,

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       The heating from this causes oxygen and nitrogen - the main gases in the atmosphere - to react by giving off green, blue, pink and yellow colours seen in the northern lights.

       Towards the end of last year, meteorologists warned of a solar storm that would increase the intensity of the northern lights.