Northern Lights give tourism a healthy glow

INCREDIBLE displays from the Northern Lights are attracting hundreds of people to the northernmost tip of the country.

The area around Malin Head has been so packed with stargazers over recent nights that many people had to turn back and seek other vantage points along the Inishowen peninsula.

Among them was amateur photographer Adam Porter who took these pictures from the shoreline at Urris.

The Northern Lights — or Aurora Borealis — is a natural light display caused by a combination of the solar wind, a hot ionised gas blowing from the sun, and the Earth’s magnetic field.

“It was just incredible,” said Mr Porter (34), who is the chairman of the Buncrana Camera Club.

“We were planning to go to Malin Head, but there were so many people there we drove to Urris instead. It was incredible to see,” he said.

Kathleen Gill, marketing manager of Inishowen Tourism, says people from as far away as Cork have been making inquiries about visiting Donegal, with the lights expected to be visible until March.

“We have had a lot of calls from as far away as Cork about the lights and what accommodation is available in the region,” she said.