What do nine meters of rope, two stretches of hosepipe, a clothes hanger, an ice cream tub, two small flower pots, a plastic spray canister, bits of a mattress, an assortment of plastic bags and two dozen pieces of thick transparent sheeting have in common?

Answer: They were all found inside the stomach of a dead Mediterranean sperm whale.

What makes the death of 4.5 tonne whale news that is local to Ledbury?

Well, according to a Guardian report the whale had swallowed 17 kg of the thick transparent plastic sheeting - plastic used by the Almeria greenhouse industry to produce tomatoes and other vegetables destined for the shelves of Tesco and other UK supermarkets.