Loch Lomond is an important wintering site for Greenland White-fronted Geese, with recent counts peaking at just under 200 birds. The geese use farmland to the south of Loch Lomond as well as the RSPB reserve by the loch. The local RSPB team and many volunteers count the geese each winter, providing data for the International Censuses. The Greenland White-fronted Goose Study has been closely involved there over the years, and we have helped to provide information and advice to this exciting recent project below.
Skein Dial (2023) is a new permanent artwork inspired by the migration of Greenland White-fronted geese. It was created by artist and researcher Hannah Imlach (b.1989) for the RSPB’s Loch Lomond nature reserve. The sculpture, which operates as a migration sundial, marks the seasonal arrival and departure windows of the Loch Lomond flock through the relationship between its two sculptural elements: the Gnomon and the Daylight Arcs.
Skein Dial the Gnomon is a perforated semi-circle orientated True North and set into the ground at an angle of fifty-six degrees, making it parallel to the Earth’s axis. In fine weather, a channel of light between the Gnomon’s two panels shows the time of day – each arc segment represents one hour – while the length and quality of the Gnomon’s shadow describes the time of year – short and defined in the summer months, longer and more diffuse in winter. The shadow also depicts an arrow-shaped group of geese which moves across the ground over the course of the day, mirroring the many thousands of geese who fill Loch Lomond’s skies in winter.
The Greenland white-fronted goose artwork Skein Dial by Hannah Imlach is now installed permanently in Loch Lomond.
“We installed two pale arcs on the ground surface (partly visible in the third image) calculated from the arrival and departure migratory windows we discussed. When the shadow of the sculpture falls within these arcs the public will know the geese are in the process of arriving for the Winter or leaving in the Spring. It’s a sundial calibrated to goose time!” (Hannah Imlach)
The Daylight Arcs span Skein Dial’s circular pad. These represent the average migration windows of Greenland White-fronted Geese into Loch Lomond. When the shadow of the Gnomon falls within the furthest, Autumn Arc the geese are in the process of arriving to overwinter in the nature reserve. When the shadow of the Gnomon falls within the nearest, Spring Arc the geese are in the process of departing Loch Lomond, first for Iceland and then for their breeding grounds in Greenland. The sculpture hopes
to provoke anticipation of these seasonal movements and an awareness and appreciation of the presence of geese even when they are not easily visible to many local visitors.
Skein Dial was created through an iterative process of research, drawing and consultation involving ecologists, conservation staff and volunteers, sundial experts, fabricators and engineers. Imlach’s sketchbooks document this journey, from field notes and photography, through sculpture ideas and experimentation, to detailed calculations and 3D virtual models. The resulting artwork is site-, species-, and time-specific, designed for the latitude and longitude of RSPB Loch Lomond and the specific
migratory behaviours of the reserve’s flock of Greenland White-fronted geese. It celebrates both the efforts of conservation staff and volunteers, and the lives of geese whose miraculous migrations continue through adversity.
Hannah Imlach has worked in the field of ecological art since 2011. Skein Dial was created as part of her PhD, a unique collaborative partnership between the RSPB and the School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, supported by the Scottish Graduate School of Art and Humanities.
For more information visit: www.hannahimlach.com
Leave a Reply