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Watch: The stirring track by the Scottish alt-rock band, highlights climate crisis and disappearing seabirds

Watch: The stirring track by the Scottish alt-rock band, highlights climate crisis and disappearing seabirds

Wildlife on the Rocks is a collaboration of the Scottish Wildlife Trust conservation charity, and alternative rock band Sea Power. It features breathtaking footage shot on Handa Island nature reserve off the coast from Sutherland.

The Great Skua was a specially composed soundtrack by Sea Power, a Mercury-nominated, Bafta-winning, and Mercury-nominated band, to raise awareness about the urgent need to address climate change.

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Climate change hitting seabirds in Scotland and northern oceans hardest

Handa Island is located in the far north of Scotland and is an important breeding site for tens to thousands of seabirds. Its surrounding waters also host larger marine species like whales, seals, and sometimes basking sharks.

It aims to generate support for the Scottish Wildlife Trust’s #HelpNatureHelpUs campaign, which calls for greater investment in the natural environment to solve the interlinked crises.

Dougie Peedle, head of policy for the Scottish Wildlife Trust, said: “Climate change is already having a serious impact on Scotland’s seabirds.

“Numbers have fallen by almost 50 per cent since the 1980s and this decline can only be halted by effective action.

“And it’s not just seabirds that are under threat. One in nine species is at risk in Scotland, and the country is close the bottom of the international Biodiversity Index.

Sea Power’s new track was named after the piratical great Skua, also known to as the Bonxie. The species is 60 percent of the total world’s population. Most of them are found in Scotland.

“Nature is our life support system.

“There has never been a greater need to recognise its importance to our everyday lives, and the need to act to protect and restore ecosystems at a landscape scale.

“Restoring our land and seas is vital to tackling climate change and halting biodiversity loss.

Sea Power guitarist Martin Noble said: “Scotland has such amazing wildlife, much more needs to be done to protect it.

“We should all respect and try to look after the planet, the natural world and the ecosystems that support us all.”

He added: “The great skua is a piratical seabird but our track is a beautiful soaring instrumental named after a majestic bird that is also a thief.

“That’s just the way it is. It’s all part of the incredible global ecosystem we live in which can be both glorious and brutal.”

Bandmate Jan Scott Wilkinson, singer and guitarist, said: “I get quite a buzz seeing our music intertwined with nature in a sensitive and effective manner.

“Most of all I find birds and the animal world fascinating.

“Any small help we can provide to other species has got to be a good thing.”

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