RSPB launch campaign to stop new airport in Kent

"I'm absolutely appalled by this preposterous threat to build an airport across Cliffe RSPB reserve and the surrounding area, destroying our precious priceless North Kent marshes for ever. This tragedy cannot be allowed to happen to our national heritage, I totally support the No Airport @ Cliffe Campaign, I'm with you all the way 100%, count me in!"

Bill Oddie
June 2002.

"We have heard of the threat to the birds and their habitats in the Hoo peninsula should an airport be built at Cliffe in Kent, UK. This proposal should be rejected at all costs and you can rely on our support. The destruction of the remaining habitats, and the subsequent decline of disappearance of species - birds, plants, mammals or other organisms, can no longer be decided at a local or national level alone. These are planetary resources and our common inheritance. Please campaign on our behalf - for OUR birds and their habitats. Regards"

Peter Lobo, Gurudongma Tours & Treks
Gurudongma House Hilltop,
Kalimpong 734301,
India

"Any one with an interest in birds, the wider countryside, conservation and the environment has only to stand on the Thames marshes in Kent and gaze across at the Essex coast with its refineries, industry and buildings, to appreciate the importance and value of the marshes from Cliffe to the Isle of Grain. When I was RSPB Senior Warden at Northward Hill and living on the marshes in Swigshole Cottage - the contrast between the two sides of the river was particularly striking at night. Essex was a blaze of lights and flares and (although we could not hear it) I suspect noise. The Kent side of the river was quiet, restful and the stars shone brilliantly from a black sky. The only noise, the Nightingales in the wood and the Lapwings and Redshank out on the marshes. In the winter the feeding geese and waders called with the changing tides. The loss of this site to an airport would be criminal. The prospects for Cliffe and the Thames marshes had, until recently, never looked brighter with RSPB land management and ownership extending over such a wide area - an area that I used to survey and dream of being a nature reserve. Now with just the final elements within our grasp - the spectre of an airport looms (once again!) over the site. It cannot and must not be allowed to happen."

R. E. (Bob) Scott

Chairman Dungeness Bird Observatory Trustees
Chairman Cambridgeshire Bird Club
Past Vice-President British Ornithologists Union
Committee member British Ornithologists Club
Director journal "British Birds.

The BIG SIT demonstration of support being held at the Cliffe Reserve continues, the tally of species seen from the HOPE POINT viewing mound by campaigners has now reached 100 (as at mid-day 6th July 2002), the list here follows:

1 Little Grebe
2 Great Crested Grebe
3 Black-necked Grebe
4 Cormorant
5 Little Egret
6 Grey Heron
7 Mute Swan - (( Black Swan ))
8 Greylag Goose
9 Canada Goose
10 Egyptian Goose
11 Shelduck
12 Wigeon
13 Gadwall
14 Teal
15 Mallard
16 Garganey
17 Shoveler
18 Pochard
19 Tufted Duck
20 Ruddy Duck
21 Marsh Harrier
22 Montagu's Harrier
23 Sparrowhawk
24 Kestrel
25 Hobby
26 Peregrine
27 Red-legged Partridge
28 Grey Partridge
29 Pheasant
30 Moorhen
31 Coot
32 Oystercatcher
33 Avocet
34 Little Ringed Plover
35 Ringed Plover
36 Lapwing
37 Dunlin
38 Ruff
39 Snipe
40 Black-tailed Godwit
41 Bar-tailed Godwit
42 Curlew
43 Spotted Redshank
44 Redshank
45 Greenshank
46 Green Sandpiper
47 Wood Sandpiper
48 Common Sandpiper
49 Mediterranean Gull
50 Black-headed Gull
51 Common Gull
52 Lesser Black-backed Gull
53 Herring Gull
54 Great Black-backed Gull
55 Sandwich Tern
56 Common Tern
57 Feral Pigeon
58 Stock Dove
59 Woodpigeon
60 Collared Dove
61 Turtle Dove
62 Barn Owl
63 Cuckoo
64 Swift
65 Kingfisher
66 Bee-eater
67 Green Woodpecker
68 Great Spotted Woodpecker
69 Skylark
70 Sand Martin
71 Swallow
72 House Martin
73 Meadow Pipit
74 Yellow Wagtail
75 Pied Wagtail
76 Wren
77 Dunnock
78 Stonechat
79 Blackbird
80 Song Thrush
81 Mistle Thrush
82 Sedge Warbler
83 Reed Warbler
84 Lesser Whitethroat
85 Whitethroat
86 Blue Tit
87 Great Tit
88 Jay
89 Magpie
90 Jackdaw
91 Rook
92 Crow
93 Starling
94 House Sparrow
95 Chaffinch
96 Greenfinch
97 Goldfinch
98 Linnet
99 Reed Bunting
100 Corn Bunting

Please pledge support: NoAirportAtCli ffe@rspb.org.uk

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Bill Oddie joins others to lend support to stop new airport in Kent