If seeing the Northern Lights is on your bucket list, perhaps you should start making plans as there may only be a couple of decades left to view them from Scotland.

When the conditions are right, nature’s extravagant Aurora Borealis lightshow, can be seen from anywhere in Scotland. Indeed it was even visible as far south as Oxfordshire last year and earlier sightings have been claimed in London.

Caused by solar particles interacting with the Earth’s magnetic field, they have long been a feature of northern skies. They are ‘Na Fir-Chlis', in Gaelic meaning the nimble or lively ones, which led to them also being known as the merry dancers

But their Scottish dancing days may be numbered. A study by Reading University space scientists calculates by the middle of the century, the Northern Lights may only be seen nearer the North Pole; and the Aurora Australis, known as the Southern Lights, the South Pole - for 50 years..

For those who want to see them before then VisitScotland lists some of the best places to go including some unexpected recommendations.

Shetland, Orkney and Noss Head near Wick are at the top of the list.

But Aberdeenshire and the Moray Coast; Lewis, Harris and north Skye; Applecross and Lochinver; the Cairngorms; Galloway Forest Park; Rannoch Moor and Perthshire; Angus, all rate a mention. So does St Andrews and even Calton Hill or Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh "if the aurora is really strong.”

It is solar wind forces that have allowed us to see the phenomenon hitherto. However Dr Mathew Owens, from Reading University’s Meteorology department, explained: “The magnetic activity of the sun ebbs and flows in predictable cycles, but there is also evidence that it is due to plummet, possibly by the largest amount for 300 years.

“If so, the Northern Lights phenomenon would become a natural show exclusive to the polar regions.”

The further north you go the better the chance you have of seeing the Northern Lights. In Britain that means Shetland.

Steve Mathieson, VisitScotland’s manager for the Shetland Islands said: “Shetlanders and visitors alike love to see the Northern Lights so it would be a real shame if we were to lose them for a period of time. As they are an unpredictable phenomenon we have never marketed Shetland specifically as a ‘See the Northern Lights’ destination, though obviously we are the prime location in the UK for doing so and they have been very much in evidence in recent winters. In a way it’s similar to the whales that appear around Shetland with what seems to be increasing frequency, in that we would love visitors to come & share sightings of the Orcas, Humpbacks, Pilot, Sperm and Minke whales but as we can’t guarantee when they will arrive we can’t risk potential disappointment."

One who knows much about the phenomenon is astronomer John Vetterlein of the Auroral & Magnetic Observatory on the Orkney island of Rousay. He said “Most Orcadians are familiar with the appearance in the night sky from time to time of what we call locally the Merry Dancers. The description is apt in many instances where auroral elements are seen to literally dance across the sky.”

But in a paper he had written as long ago 2008 he had said the sun was undergoing “a long period of inactivity not experienced since the ‘Maunder low’ that occurred between 1645and 1715.”

Meanwhile Hugh Ross, Development Officer with the Staffin Community Trust in the the north of Skye, said "Growing up here, we were used to seeing the Northern Lights. They would appear and then disappear. They were just part of the backdrop to life here. Not so much was made of them, but now with social media there is a lot more interest. There is a popular Facebook page Glendale Skye Auroras, which reports what is happening in skies above the island. Certainly the Northern Lights are quite a sight from the north of Skye. It is a good place to come and see them."

For more information, please go to VisitScotland.com