Children's car seat and rubber ducks found in water clean-up

Litter including children's car seats, rubber ducks and road cones have been collected from the water in Cardiff Bay as part of a clean-up.

Dozens of volunteers from Cardiff Rivers Group collected rubbish in Mermaid Quay on Saturday.

The collection was part of Spring Clean Cymru, which invites people to "take action" against littering in their local area.

Dave King, a founding member of Cardiff Rivers Group, said the Welsh capital was a "fantastic place", but was "blighted by flytipping and littering".

"So much wood and natural debris has come down the River Taff and almost masks what's underneath," said King, adding that the litter amounted to 59 red bags as well as a skip.

"It's only when you're standing on it you realise how much [litter] is there," he said.

"There are pockets where the rubbish gathers and almost becomes a polystyrene soup which is impossible for us to do anything about."

The event marked the group's 512th clean-up since they were founded in 2009, and King said that despite people being more aware of the harmful impact of littering, the amount the group finds has remained "about the same".

He said the group receives comments saying their litter collections are a "waste of time", but said "in an ideal world people wouldn't throw litter into the river in the first place so no one has to spend their time picking it up".

"Without our fantastic volunteers, we wouldn't get anything done. They come out in all weathers and do whatever is asked of them," King said.

One of the volunteers later returned to Mermaid Quay following the litter collection and found two swans building a nest in the area they had cleaned.

King said it was "amazing", and makes the work they do "worthwhile".