Sounds of our shores: World Listening Day

To celebrate World Listening Day and the theme of water, join in with the Sounds of our Shores project and record sounds of waves at noon tomorrow.

From crashing waves to bustling piers, children’s laughter to chattering seabird colonies, what we hear at the coast connects us to it. The sounds of our shores project (National Trust/British Library/National Trust for Scotland) aims to get as many people as possible recording the sounds of waves along the whole UK coastline at 12 noon on Saturday 18 July. The aim is to build up a sonic snapshot of how waves sound and how this sound is affected by the beach, the topography of the land etc. The coastal sound map aims to reflect the beauty and diversity of the entire UK coast, 775 miles of which are cared for by the National Trust thanks to their Neptune Coastline Campaign.

Getting involved

To take part in the project, which runs for three months until 21 September, you can record a sound from anywhere on the UK’s 10,800 mile coastline from beaches to ports, cliffs to seaside towns. You can also share historic coastal sounds to illustrate how our coastline has changed.

Each sound should be an audio or video clip up to five minutes long and can be uploaded along with a location, images and a description to the map via the audioBoom website or app and there’s lots of great information to help you. You can also share your sounds on social media using #shoresounds.

Tips to get you started

The British Library website has useful tips for making the most of your coastal recordings including how to minimise unwanted wind noise and advice for recording near wildlife. There’s also practical information on using a smartphone, tablet or handheld recorder.

What you record is completely up to you but Catherine Lee, community and volunteering officer on the Lizard in Cornwall and a former sound recordist, has a few suggestions to get you going:

Footsteps in the sand
People ordering and eating ice-creams
Waves crashing against the rocks
Seagulls calling

Sounds of the Shores is featured as part of July's Things to Plan and Do (page 16). Read more - July's issue is available from all good newsagents, supermarkets and our official online store. 

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Looking back: Explore Britain on Film

We love this new way to explore the rich history of the UK, without having to leave the comfort of your own home. Britain on Film is an amazing archive, recently launched by the British Film Institute, which puts thousands of films online for the first time, available to watch for free through the BFI player.

The footage, taken from around the UK – including news reels, documentaries, as well as family films – dates from the 1980s all the way back to the 1890s.

The films bring the stuff of history books alive, whether they show Queen Victoria’s funeral or life on the home front in the World Wars and reveal the changing (and, sometimes, incredibly unchanging) landscape of Britain, from cities to village greens, all searchable on an interactive map.

Some of the most fascinating footage shows some of the country’s rich regional traditions. There’s Lady Godiva in Coventry, Well Dressing in Buxton and Up Helly Aa in the Shetlands in 1927 just for starters (keep a lookout for the ‘sheep’ and ‘walruses’ in the last one).

And, as revealed by the footage of 1920s pet shows at London’s Alexandra Palace and Crystal Palace, we’ve never been able to resist a cute cat or dog.

And, with summer holidays on the horizon, you can see how generations before us flocked to the seaside, whether Eastbourne, Skegness, or Aberystwyth. The coast is also the setting for one of the earliest family films, which dates to 1903 and shows the children of the Passmore family happily playing on the beach – a complete contrast to the stiff family portraits we’re so used to seeing from the era.

Take a look at the BFI Facebook page where there will be a new film posted each day. And, while the project isn’t available outside of the UK, there are still plenty of films to be explored on the BFI’s YouTube channel.