AWARDS: ENGLAND / WILTSHIRE / LAKE DISTRICT / WALES / SCOTLAND / COAST OF S.W. ENGLAND / COAST / STORMS / LAKES & MOUNTAINS / WINTER LANDSCAPES / DESERTS / ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY / BRITISH BIRDS 1 / BRITISH BIRDS 2 / BRITISH MAMMALS / BRITISH INSECTS / WORLD BIRDS / WORLD MAMMALS / NATURE
AURORA SYCAMORE GAP
I made this image of Sycamore Gap in Northumberland after 10pm on New Year's Eve, during a brief period of clear skies. Getting there involved hiking over saturated ground, then up and down steep steps along Hadrian's Wall, all in darkness. I composed looking due north, the stark winter branches of the famous sycamore taking centre-stage, framed by the steep slopes of the Whin Sill on either side. My plan was to show the tree silhouetted against the night sky with the pale band of the Milky Way to its left. It was only when I looked at the image recorded by the camera that I realised I had also captured the green glow of an aurora borealis along the northern horizon.
F/2, 1/20th second, ISO 1600
Accepted: Southampton 2016, Olympic (Greece) 2016 - Aphrodite and Zeus
