Mud and crud

Not a hugely interesting vista, the Teifi estuary as the river flows to meet the sea. It's tidal here and low water has exposed a sheet of mud where I stopped to watch the action that was taking place: house martins swooping down to collect beakfuls in order to construct, or maybe patch up, their nests.
My camera doesn't have a long lens so I couldn't zoom in but they can be seen this clip here,  and many others.

This spot is close to where ospreys were seen last year in the trees on the opposite bank, cormorants frequently pop in and out of the water midstream and otters are occasionally sighted. It used to be a prime fishing river. But although the water appears clean and clear it is, like the great majority of British waterways, severely polluted by agricultural runoff and by both accidental and deliberate releases of effluent. It's reckoned to be the sixth or ninth (depending measures used) most polluted river in Britain.
https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/environment/revealed-map-shows-which-stretch-of-river-teifi-saw-most-sewage-pollution-last-year-606404.

I now find it impossible to enjoy seeing wildlife without thinking about what's been lost, what's dwindling and what will remain in the future after I have gone.