A KAYAKER has spoken out after collecting a full bag of rubbish every time he paddles down the River Stour.

Gus Gillam kayaks regularly on the River Stour and has seen a ‘whole kitchen’ emptied into the waterway.

He said: “Last weekend we went kayaking on our normal route. As you come from the bridge going downstream (past Iford Park).

“On the bank there were plates, coat hangers, glass bottles, plastic bowls, cardboard, and it was just like somebody emptied out their kitchen and just dumped it in the river there. And I just thought, this is just ridiculous.

“There were a couple of guys that were fishing up the river and they said they're sick of it. It's almost like it's just a place to dump your garbage.

“It's such a nice piece of water and there's a family of swans we've been following since they were little grey, fluffy balls. And they’ve all grown up now. When we go kayaking down, they quite often follow us down when we're kayaking.

“You see the ducks paddling around and quite often, they'll have big pieces of plastic attached to them somewhere and occasionally you see swans with bits of plastic attached to them.

“It's really not good for the fish stock, the river is known for its trout and there's some big fish in it.”

Gus and his partner regularly go kayaking and collect a full bag of rubbish.

He said: “My partner and I go kayaking at least once a week, twice a week if we get the chance and we normally start by Iford Bridge and we go downstream towards Christchurch and I regularly put a bin bag on the front of the kayak and pick up plastic rubbish out the river, bottles and drink cans and just general garbage.

"I nearly always come back with a full bin bag every single time and we’ve kind of got into the habit of doing it now.

“People need to have a bit more common sense and think well, actually I like my kids swimming in this river and I don't really want them swimming next to broken bottles and busted plates.

"The river is turning into an open sewer.”