THE Northern Lights are not something you would normally associate with rural Dorset…

However, one intrepid county snapper had other ideas during the night of August 12.

The lights – proper title aurora borealis – have been visible further south than normally expected recently, due to the sun reaching a period of ‘solar maximum’ as part of an 11-year cycle.

It is expected to last up to two years, giving people the opportunity of seeing illuminated skies in unusual locations.

However, the strength or visibility of the lights are difficult to predict.

But for Steve Veness, at around 11.30pm on August 12, conditions were perfect for him to be able to snap several pictures of the lights from his Shaftesbury garden.

“I had gone out into the garden to watch for the Perseid meteor showers – which I also saw but were much harder to capture on a phone camera,” he said.

Thankfully for us – and Steve – the camera captured the lights brilliantly from his Stour Row property.

* Send your photographs to newsdesk@blackmorevale.net

Steve Veness captured the Northern Lights from his garden in Stour Row, Shaftesbury