"A crucial moment in the life (or death) of the Wye"

As someone who's spent many a marvellous day wandering alongside its banks or floating along it in a kayak, I find it staggering that the River Wye has been allowed to become so polluted.

The chief culprit - according to numerous sources, principally a Lancaster University study - is poultry manure, and environmental groups, campaigners such as George Monbiot and author Robert Macfarlane have stressed that the situation is now critical.

Natural Resources Wales and the Environmental Audit Committee have at least acknowledged the concerns - yet plans for further intensive poultry farms are still in the pipeline.

Here's hoping that Powys County Council see sense - or are made to see sense by the Welsh government - and the damage to one of this part of the world's finest natural attractions is curtailed before it's too late.