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Aurora hunters were given a treat in the early hours of Monday when the Northern Lights created a display of "pillars and greens" visible to the naked eye.

A clear night sky, a set moon and several solar flares created the perfect conditions to see the aurora off the Norfolk coast, which, when photographed, also revealed purple hues.

The Northern Lights are caused by the interaction of the solar wind - a stream of charged particles escaping the Sun - and our planet's magnetic field and atmosphere.

"I'd been expecting the lights all day," said Norfolk-based aurora hunter James Rowley-Hill, who also administers the 20,000-strong Aurora UK group on Facebook.

"It first kicked off on Saturday night in Canada but I wasn't expecting as good a show as this, I'm well happy," he said.

Photographer Gary Pearson made the most of the display a little further along the Norfolk coast at Brancaster Staithe.

"You could see the pillars and the greens of the aurora clearly with the naked eye once adjusted to the dark last night," he said.

"The other colours were picked up on camera due to the camera's long exposure recording what your eyes can't see, and, because of that, cameras are always able to capture the colours far more vividly."

He added: "To photograph them you really need a camera on a tripod that can be set to take a long exposure of say 20 or 30 seconds, but I have seen quite a few photos of Monday's [aurora] taken with mobile phones."

Weather forecaster Dan Holley said it might be possible to observe the Northern Lights on Monday evening from the Norfolk coast as it "will remain fairly clear but some fog patches may develop, especially towards dawn."

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Photos by Gary Pearson, James Rowley-Hill and Stuart Hill