Scotland’s River Dee connecting Aberdeen, thriving from the riches of the fossil fuels offshore to the Cairngorms, almost 90 miles west – the alpine habitat that makes up our largest National Park. One river telling the story of climate change in microcosm, providing a stark example of how the climate crisis is exacerbating declines in biodiversity.

Warmer temperatures are threatening the survival of entire species – including the Atlantic salmon.

In this short film produced for the Channel 4 News Film Fund, wildlife filmmaker, Cam Robinson has been to see how these interlinked crises are already affecting our landscapes.

The Cairngorms is statistically the UK’s snowiest location – home to the closest thing we have to glaciers. The Sphinx: a perennial patch of snow – dating back to the last ice age. It’s an ancient relic from the past that provides a warning for the future. Citizen scientists like Iain Cameron, author of The Vanishing Ice, have been trekking to this patch for almost a century.

Historically, these patches of snow never used to melt, but Since the 1700s the Sphinx has melted 7 times (1933, 1959, 1996, 2003, 2006, 2017 & 2018). But of those seven times, four have been in the last 20 years, showing the rate of melting is accelerating. This patch likely to disappear completely in 2021, becoming the 8th time on record.

Atlantic Salmon, Scotland’s iconic ‘king of fish’ is in trouble with its population now 10% of what it once was. One culprit, rising river temperatures, caused by man-made climate change. There’s now a race against time for the River Dee Trust to plant a million trees along the banks of the River Dee to shade the salmon from literally being poached.