Choir turned my whale recordings into ocean song

A choir has turned recordings of whale sounds from one of their members into a song celebrating the ocean.

Conservationist and photographer Rebecca Douglas is part of a team researching whales in a remote Icelandic fjord, which has been recording their sounds for a year.

Douglas is also one of 140 members of the Social Singing Choir in Margate, Kent, which has used the recordings in their song Wash Over Me, set for release in June.

She said there was "every chance" that whales she photographed over the past year were "some of the whales that have been singing on that track".

The photographer from Ramsgate is the president of marine charity Whale Wise, which has undertaken the research in an area where a port development has been proposed.

"It's important to know what's in the area and be able to advocate for the whales now that we know that they're here year on year," she told BBC Radio Kent.

Douglas said the experience had been "very emotional".

The whale song was captured by underwater microphones deployed over the year, with the researchers having an anxious wait to see if anything had been picked up.

"That moment of release and relief when it's there, I can't describe," said Douglas.

Margate music producer Hughie Gavin composed the song incorporating the sounds, writing lyrics based on words inspired by the sea which choir members had submitted.

He told the BBC the whale sounds "worked perfectly in the track".

The song is set to be performed for the first time in Margate on 22 May before the song is released online on 8 June to coincide with World Ocean Day.

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