Sound map of the coastline

THE cry of seagulls, the rattle of shingle as waves break over it, children’s shouts as they play on the beach and the chug of motorboats are some of the UK coast’s many evocative sounds.

Now the public is being asked to record the noises of seashores across the UK in order to build up a “sound map” of the country’s coastline which will be added to the British Library’s Sound Archive.

The recordings, which could range from the sounds of a working fishing village to the ferries working the west coast of Scotland, will be used to create a new piece of music, inspired by the coasts, by Martyn Ware of Human League and Heaven 17.

The scheme, by the National Trust, National Trust for Scotland and the British Library, will allow people to record and upload up to five minutes of sound onto the online map

For more information about the scheme, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ coastal-sounds

WHAT will yours be? The sound of the waves? The shouts of children as they play in the sand? Or maybe your sound of the seaside will be the triumphant call of a seagull after it’s nicked one of your chips.

Whatever it is, the rumble, rattle, whoosh and screech of the British seaside is familiar to all of us and is now being recorded as part of a project by a number of organisations including the National Trust for Scotland.

The idea is that over the summer, the public will record sounds of the seaside that attract their attention. They could be soothing (after all, some people use the sound of the waves to help them sleep), they could be inspiring, they could even be threatening. The musician Martyn Ware will then gather the sounds together and use them to create a new piece of music.

Some might say it is frivolous, but the project will include clips of sounds that have disappeared – it will be a history book we can listen to.

But there is another serious point behind the project – which is to raise awareness of the importance of valuing and protecting the UK’s coastline against pollution, erosion and development. So listen carefully to those sounds – they are the sounds of something worth preserving.