An apprentice ranger has captured the moment a spectacular Northern Lights display lit up the night sky above the Cairngorms.
Kirsten Dallas, who works at the Mar Lodge Estate, took the stunning photograph of the green aurora borealis shimmering below the stars at Glen Quoich.
The striking image shows the reflection of the “Merry Dancers” in the River Dee and the outline of Beinn a’ Bhuird, one of the giant mountains of the national park.
Miss Dallas took the image on Wednesday at about 10.30pm, and said the display lasted about half an hour.
She added it was the first time she had ever witnessed the Northern Lights in the north-east since starting on the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) estate in October last year.
Yesterday the 26-year-old said: “It was last night and I live on the site.
“One of the volunteers noticed the alert for the aurora and thought we should go have a look.
“We went up to one of the best view points on the road, looking across the estate. The first time we went up, my camera battery was flat and we decided to go back.
“When we got back the second time that is when it really started. It lasted about 20 minutes, half an hour.
“The alert was just that it was possible there might have been some Northern Lights. I was surprised they turned out to be really visible.
“I have never seen them here. One of our volunteers here had never seen them.
“We were really hooked and had to stay, and eventually they sort of died back down. We took a lot of pictures, it was quite hard to choose a favourite.”
Miss Dallas – who has been on the NTS apprenticeship since November 2014 – added: “It is great getting to live here and just being able to nip out a minute down the road and see them, it is pretty special.”
The aurora is a phenomenon caused by the interaction of high-energy particles and neutral atoms in Earth’s atmosphere – causing breathtaking spectacles in the night sky.
