Do you have a bucket list? Things you’d like to do before you pop your clogs? Bucket-list items I’ve ticked include seeing the Wimbledon Men’s Final, hang gliding, high diving, flying in a small aircraft, eating at the swanky Black Swan in Oldstead, seeing a starling murmuration, visiting New York, Asia and Australia, and seeing David Bowie, Queen, U2 and the Foo Fighters live in concert.

Those above span a 30-year period, so 2024 has been a bit of a bumper one in comparison. I first saw a murmuration in February 2023 and it was hands down one of the most breath-taking natural phenomenon I have ever witnessed. That’s why I double-bucketed and went again this year.

Another of my "bucket-listers" was going back to Greece. It is one of my favourite ever places, and yet I have only been a couple of times. I was a nanny there in 1985-6, then went back for an island holiday in the early 1990s. I finally got to return this September for a week in Crete (and I wrote about my trip to Knossos a couple of weeks ago).

My most recent "bucket-lister" was seeing the Northern Lights. For most of my lifetime you had to book an expensive holiday to the Arctic Circle, or at least decamp to the very north of Scotland, to see this natural marvel. But recently they’ve been seen all over North Yorkshire and a friend of mine had even taken a picture of them from her bedroom window in York. The problem was, I always missed them. One night after a promising forecast, I sat in my garden until 2am only to be disappointed again.

Finally on October 10 at about 8pm, my sister messaged me to say the lights were putting on a display that was clearly visible from her street. I rushed out, but there was nothing even though I was just a few miles away.

A couple of hours later, I decided to have one more look before going to bed. I peered towards the north (because that’s where I thought you were meant to look for the Northern Lights) and saw nothing remarkable. Then, I scanned the rest of the clear night sky and, turning towards the south, I noticed that there was a faint pinky glow. At first, I thought my desperation had led my eyes to play tricks, but the glow seemed to get a little brighter. I had read that if you took photos with your smart phone, the colours became more visible, and sure enough, the picture I took revealed an amazing blanket of green and pink cloaking the sky. I lowered my phone, and, the colours grew brighter and were soon clearly visible to my naked eye, appearing in every direction. I called my son, told him to turn off all the house lights, and we both stood in the garden staring up, silenced by the wonder of what we were seeing.

(Image: Sarah Walker)

But why has it been possible to see the lights so far south of the Arctic Circle, and so often this year?

The BBC has helpfully supplied an article to explain, and I have included an edited version below:

The sun is currently at the ‘maximum’ of its 11-year solar cycle. According to NASA: “At its quietest, the sun is at solar minimum; during solar maximum, the sun blazes with bright flares and solar eruptions.”

What I saw from my garden on October 10 was caused by a huge sunspot that had erupted on the sun's surface 93 million miles away which blasted a stream of electrically charged particles (or ions) towards Earth (known as a Coronial Mass Ejection). As they collided with gases in our atmosphere, light was emitted at various wavelengths, creating colourful blinking and swirling displays - the Aurora Borealis. In the northern hemisphere, most of this activity takes place near the Arctic Circle, but when solar activity is strong, this can expand to cover a greater area. There is a high chance we'll get more of these Coronal Mass Ejections directed towards us in the coming months – a glimmer of hope for those of you who have not yet managed to catch them.

To bring this column to a close, I have one question: what is on your bucket list?

Do you have opinions, memories or ideas to share with me? Contact me via my webpage at countrymansdaughter.com, or email dst@nne.co.uk.