On the late evening of Friday 10th May into the early hours of Saturday 11th May, the UK saw one of the biggest Northern Lights showings for decades. You had to be in the right place of course, and it just didn`t happen for me.
There were many stunning images from across Wales, making me kick myself all the more, but full credit to all those who nailed it.
With the "red aurora alert" still continuing throughout Saturday, I headed off to Rhossili on the Gower coast, sandwiches and flask ready for a long night. However, as the night wore on, the alert level dipped from red to amber to yellow, but then increased again. Looked semi-hopeful, although there was increasing cloud from the West before sunset.
The hours passed, and it was very hard to see anything of the Northern Lights. With the moon still up too, it took some time - closer to midnight - before there was any slight hint of purples to the naked eye.
With the bay bathed in moonlight, and by altering camera settings to try to pick up any aurora, I just managed to pick up the purples in the sky (although this is facing more or less West instead of North). This was nowhere near the standards that I was after and hoping for, and nowhere near the standards of images I saw from yesterday.
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Looking North from the cliffs in the direction of Burry Holmes island and Llanelli beyond, there were more mauves and purples barely visible to the naked eye.
All a bit disappointing, but let`s hope there`s more to come fairly soon.