I have looked through many explanations for this phenomenon and I think that it is an icebow or sundog ... is a rainbow-like spot in a cirrus cloud, light shines through ice crystals in the cloud making a icebow or sundog, much like light shining through raindrops makes a rainbow. In a real rainbow light is diffracted through a circular drop of rain, producing many different colours, In the icebow diffraction is through a specific face of the hexagonal ice crystal, which only gives rise to one colour ... I was so excited to see this it was a very very cold morning and the sun had just risen in Longridge, in Lancashire and it's certainly a one off for me, and something that I've never seen before.

Weather