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Much of northern England enjoyed a rare optical display on Sunday evening.

Thin, high cloud gave a spectacular show of halos, arcs and upside-down rainbows across the North East and Cumbria, not often seen together in the UK.

The phenomena are caused by sunlight reflecting and refracting through ice crystals high in the atmosphere.

����ý Look North weather presenter Jennifer Bartram said it was "very unusual".

"The particular angle at which the sunlight hits these high-up ice crystals form these patterns," she said.

"It's a real delight to see."

The rings around the Sun are known as halos and have a reddish tinge on the inner edge.

Though halos are not uncommon in the UK, the combination of other optical effects is more unusual.

One of the more unusual features spotted was an upside-down rainbow, known as a cirumzenithal arc.

It is also known as a Bravais' arc, and is formed when sunlight enters horizontal ice crystals and refracts through a side prism face, which causes the upside-down effect.

Also visible were a range of other effects, including parhelia - or sun dogs - which appear as bright patches either side of the sun.

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