ENGLISH Nature will warn the Government that the risk of bird strikes to aircraft using an international airport at Cliffe is probably higher than anywhere else in Britain.

And they say an airport on the Thames Marshes cannot be justified when other sites are available.

One of their leading officials in Kent has said they will warn the Government that the risk of geese and swans flying into the engines is serious.

Their worst fear is that the new 1,000-seat jumbo jets due to enter service shortly could crash onto north Kent with catastrophic loss of life.

Dr Lionel Solly, the quango's Conservation Officer with English Nature's Kent team, has admitted: "Such large concentrations of birds in the proximity of the airport would pose a risk to aircraft on take-off and landing."

He plans to draw worries to the attention of Transport Secretary, Alistair Darling.

"A preliminary evaluation published as part of the airport consultation concluded that Cliffe 'is probably one of the most hazardous locations in the country in terms of bird-strike risk'," he said earlier this month.