Watch: Stirring track by Scottish alt-rock band highlights disappearing seabirds and climate crisis

A stirring new music video has been released to highlight the existential crisis facing nature in Scotland and across the globe.

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

The soundtrack, The Great Skua, was specially created by the Bafta-winning and Mercury-nominated group Sea Power to help raise awareness of the urgent need to tackle climate change and the loss of nature.

Handa Island, in the far north of Scotland, is an internationally important breeding site for tens of thousands of seabirds - including guillemots, razorbills and great skuas - while its surrounding waters host larger marine species such as whales, dolphins, 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 in Scotland is threatened with extinction and the country is close to the bottom of the international Biodiversity Intactness Index.

Sea Power's new track is named after the piratical great skua, also known as the Bonxie - Scotland hosts 60 per cent of the world's total population of the species, with most found in the northern isles

“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.”

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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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