THE public can to listen to the sound of the pouring rain, and other natural phenomena, at a project which opened this week.

Environmentalists and artists unveiled a "listening post" at an award winning wetland at Quaking Houses, near Stanley.

The post features music based on recordings of natural on-site sounds plus information and anecdotes about the wetland and Quaking Houses.

The unique wetland project was designed to clean up pollution seaping from the old pit, which was poisoning Stanley Burn.

Scientists from Newcastle University worked on the project, which uses the wetland to help filter out aluminium and other chemicals.

The scheme attracted national acclaim on its completion three years ago.

A previous listening post at the wetland itself was removed after being repeatedly vandalised.

Its replacement is at nearby Quaking Houses Village Hall, while another has been installed at the Civic Hall, in Stanley.

The idea came from artist Helen Smith who worked with villagers for two years on the project.

Project coordinator Janet Ross explained funding for the listening posts, which cost thousands of pounds, came from Thompson's of Prudhoe Environmental Trust and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

She said: "This whole project shows how art can act as a stimulus to facilitate regeneration."