A PHOTOGRAPHER has captured stunning scenes of northern lights over central Scotland.

Cat Perkinton said the jaw-dropping aurora borealis display happened in the early hours of Tuesday morning over the Kilsyth Hills in North Lanarkshire.

She explained: "The stars started going up around 11pm, with the sky just after midnight showing some strong green on camera, which could be seen to the eye as pale green.

"Around 2am the whole sky was lit by moving pillars stretching up beyond the plough and dancing all over the horizon.

"The pillars were very visible to the naked eye and even the red and pink tones were distinguishable from the greens.

"Then, just after 2.30am another burst of activity sent rays in strong reds over the Kilsyth Hills."

Auroras are the result of disturbances in the magnetosphere caused by the solar wind.

Major disturbances result from enhancements in the speed of the solar wind from the Sun's coronal holes and coronal mass ejections.