A stunning display of the northern lights has been caught on camera by an amateur astronomer.

Mary McIntyre recorded a timelapse video covering about 40 minutes when the display was at its peak in the early hours of this morning near Tackley in north Oxfordshire.

The Aurora Borealis is more associated with the northernmost parts of Britain, but Mrs McIntyre said they can occasionally be seen here.

The 34-year-old said: "It is quite unusual but in the past four years I have seen them about three times.

"Last night was quite a display.

"You could see a lot with the naked eye, which you cannot normally do.

"Compared to other times I have seen them the green was much more visible. There is not a great deal of colour when you view them from this far south.

"But the green was clearly green last night, I have never seen it like that before. The purple bits were a grey-ish colour to the naked eye."

The video shows the peak of the display between 1.42am and 2.19am.

Mrs McIntyre said people who want to see the northern lights can download an app for their phone that alerts them when auroral activity is high.

She said: "If all the things come together it is very possible to see it."

The Aurora Borealis is a natural light display and is produced by collisions between electrically charged particles released from the sun that enter the earth's atmosphere and collide with gases such as oxygen and nitrogen.