The catamaran Godzilla. Photo: Tivon Rice / Imagining Godzilla.
I've been selected to join Imagining Godzilla for a four-day leg this summer. The residency is run by artists Merja Puustinen and Andy Best, and has been bringing artists and researchers onto the catamaran Godzilla since 2019, working the Baltic with a focus on its ecology — pollution, biodiversity loss, the pressures the sea is under. This summer they're in the northern Gulf of Bothnia.
I'll be onboard from 28 June, departing Obbola just outside Umeå, and arriving in Luleå on 1 July. The route takes in Stora Fjäderägg, Holmön, Ratan and Munkviken — the outer archipelago of the Bothnian coast.
The main stop I'm looking forward to is Stora Fjäderägg, a small island off Holmön reachable only by boat. It has a lighthouse, a bird-ringing observatory that has been running for decades,
For birds, late June on the outer archipelago should be good. Common eider (Somateria mollissima) nests on the skerries in numbers. Black guillemot (Cepphus grylle) is resident throughout. Arctic terns will be nesting on the outer islands. Red-throated divers breed on the island pools and feed at sea. Holmön has a breeding population of barnacle geese. White-tailed eagles are regular along the headlands.
I'll be filming and making field recordings throughout.