A pair of swans facing the death penalty for straying across a flight path have been granted a stay of execution.

A "shoot-to-kill" licence has been suspended while a full investigation is carried out by a national swan charity.

The reprieve came after a meeting yesterday evening between a wildlife charity and officials at Shoreham airport.

Trevor Weeks, from East Sussex Wildlife Rescue, said: "No action will be taken on the swans until a full investigation has been carried out by the National Swan Sanctuary.

"It will look at all the swans at the site and at the risk to both them and the airport. The airport is being very helpful and will give the investigation its full co-operation because it does not want to see the cull happen either.

"Nothing will happen to any swans for the foreseeable future."

A licence to cull the birds was granted by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs after a number of near misses with planes.

It gave the airport the right to shoot if they flew over airport land.

However, the wildlife charity called for documentary evidence to ensure, if the airport used the licence, it would cull the right swans.

The move followed concerns from Sibella Pannell, who owns a five-acre property off Old Salts Farm Road in Lancing, west of the airport.

She said the swans had a right to stay on her land and originally refused anyone access to move them.

Mrs Pannell said it would be impossible to identify which birds continually flew across Shoreham airport's grounds.

She said: "How do you tell? There are lots of swans in the area."

She held a meeting with the wildlife charity yesterday and members agreed to ask for a suspension of the cull because there were at least 15 swans at nearby Widewater Lagoon, any of which could also fly across the flight path.

Airport managers had begged Defra for permission to remove the birds because they said the swans were putting pilots in danger.

Mrs Pannell said she was pleased with the outcome.