THE National Trust is asking the public to record the sounds of the seaside for a digital archive.

Bosses at the organisation want thousands of recordings to be uploaded onto a digital map, which will be curated by the British Library.

The Sounds of our Shores project is a joint scheme between the National Trust - which protects historic places and spaces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - the National Trust for Scotland and the British Library.

The initiative is to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the National Trust Neptune Coastline Campaign. Launched in May 1965, the Trust now manages 775 miles of coast in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Musician, producer and founder member of Human League and Heaven 17, Martyn Ware, will be using the sounds submitted by the public to create a brand new piece of music for release in February 2016.

Cheryl Tipp, curator of wildlife and environment sounds at the British Library, said: “As millions of us head to the coast this summer for holidays or day trips we want the public to get involved by recording the sounds of our amazing coastline and add them to the sound map.

"This could be someone wrestling with putting up a deck-chair, the sounds of a fish and chip shop or a busy port.

“We’d also love to hear from people that might have historic coastal sounds, which might be stored in a box in the loft. This will help us see how the sounds of our coastline have changed over the years.”

For information, or to get involved, visit nationaltrust.org.uk/coastal-sounds