I think one thing I omitted at the start was that I fly purely for pleasure and so if I were to fly at night it would be a planned event to enjoy.
Flying in the evenings is indeed breath-takingly beautiful.
Seeing that picture is exactly the sort of sight that makes me think of training for it.
You can't even get a PPL in the US without some night experience
Maybe just another way of the CAA squeezing another fee out of us!