The UK government's airport consultation includes proposals to build a new four-runway airport on the Cliffe marshes and adjacent wetlands in north Kent. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) considers the risks of birdstrike to be so great that an airport at Cliffe would pose unacceptable risks to pilots and passengers.
Cliffe is in the middle of the Thames Estuary, a major hub for birds, supporting 200,000 wildfowl and waders in winter, and many thousands more that pass through on migration. Stopping so many birds going there would be virtually impossible; it could involve habitat destruction on an unprecedented scale, plus intensive bird scaring. But birds have been going there for thousands of years, and regardless of these measures, a significant risk to air travellers would remain.
The Central Science Laboratory told the government that "it is difficult to envisage a more problematic site anywhere else in the UK". We agree.
Dr Mark AveryDirector of Conservation, RSPB
Sandy, Bedfordshire, UK
Source: Flight International
