A photographer captured this mesmerising timelapse footage of a spectacular aurora borealis in the skies over Cornwall.

Astrophotographer Chris Small filmed the moment for over an hour-and-a-half - between 3 and 4:30am - along the coast near Bude on February 27.

Chris said: "I observed the Aurora in the sky in Cornwall from around midnight all the way through until 5:30 am. "

"This section of timelapse is about one-and-a-half hours of it and was the clearest it showed for the evening. "

"I spend hundreds of nights under the stars with just my camera and the night sky for company - sometimes with my dog too. "

"This was one of my favourite evenings, watching the aurora in the sky above my hometown of Bude in Cornwall."

"Although the aurora was at its strongest at around midnight, once the moon set after 2am, the visibility greatly improved."

"I’ve watched the aurora once before in Cornwall back in 2015. "

"Whereas that night seemed rushed and a bit panicked, I was able to sit back and enjoy this evening."

The Northern Lights occur due to activity on the sun's surface, electrically-charged particles are given off by solar storms and eventually collide with the earth's atmosphere.