I was up late on the night of September 4th 2008, as usual. I was thinking about the risk of auroras over the next few nights when at 02.50 BST I saw an aurora suddenly form in the N!. A vertical ray shot up and moved across the sky to the R (N) and repeated this process several times. Below was a significant enhancement to the horizon. I took a couple of shots which shows the green aurora very well. Pity about the low clouds. It was gone in 10 min's. This is the first aurora I have seen in a long time. I checked the charts when I got back. The IMF/Bz was tilted south - 10 degrees. Not spectacular by any means but still an aurora. The green rays below show the aurora I seen at the time. Above is a subtle red colour with blue to the R which I didn't see at the time with the naked eye, however the camera picked them up easily. This is taken from deep in the Maghera countryside. Image spans NW to N. Ursa Major is at centre with Draco above.
