the moment lightning shared the sky with a rainbow

See more incredible pictures of stormy Britain here

Lightning often occurs during heavy storms while rainbows are generally
formed after the rain has stopped, making an appearance of both
simultaneously relatively rare.

The actual electric charge in a flash of lightning comes from
particles from the sun sent out in the solar wind which gather in the
outer atmospheric layers before creating a strike.

Scientists are still divided by what actually causes lightning,
with one theory suggesting falling droplets of ice and rain become
electrically polarised as they fall through the natural electric field
in the Earth's atmosphere.

This would explain why lightning often accompanies storms and heavy
rain. The same droplets also cause the rainbow, when light from the sun
is refracted by the water to cause a spectrum.