What does the UK coastline sound like during the summer of 2015? What are the distinctive sounds of Scottish estuaries, Cornish beaches, the Pembrokeshire coast or a busy seafront? In what ways do these sounds fascinate us, move us or seem important to us?

Sounds of our Shores is a community-led, interactive soundmap which asks members of the public to upload their favourite seaside sounds and help build a permanent digital resource of UK coastal recordings.

This coastal soundmap project co-incides with the 50^th anniversary of the National Trust Neptune Coastline Campaign. Launched in May 1965 the Trust now owns 775 miles of  in England, Wales and Northern Ireland Including the White Cliffs of Dover, much of Gower in south Wales and the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.

Sounds of our Shores is about the whole coastline of the UK. It could be the sounds of a seabird colony, the sounds of a popular seaside resort or the sounds of one of our busy ports. We want to gather as many sounds as possible to reflect the diversity of the coastline and the important role that it plays in our lives.

You may contribute as many recordings as you wish.  Simply record your favourite coastal sounds, upload them to our map via audioBoom and describe them with tags and comments. From there, a permanent collection of the sounds of the UK coastline will develop. These will be made available to all through the soundmap and archived at the British Library for future generations to research, explore and enjoy.

Full guidelines on how to take part can be found here.

The British Library, The National Trust, The National Trust for Scotland and  audioBoom Ltd thank you for your interest in the Sounds of our Shores soundmap