Guardian: The crystal-clear water races over the stones, a heron cries and the smell of wild mint rises on the warm air.
But there is one thing missing from this bucolic scene: the telltale swish of the reeds or sudden liquid plop that betrays a water vole.
The creature immortalised as Ratty in The Wind in the Willows is vanishing from the British countryside, with the population slumping by more than onefifth, according to a new five-year survey.
On the banks of the River Chess in the Chilterns,...