A STUDY has revealed a bird that swooped over waters covering what is now south-east England had wings that spanned five metres tip to tip and bony teeth to grab its food.

The extraordinary beast has been identified thanks to a well-preserved skull unearthed on the Isle of Sheppey, off the Kent coast. Named dasornis emuinus, it's been dated to 50 million years ago, the British journal Palaeontology reported.

Researchers said it was like an ocean-going goose, almost the size of a small plane.

They said the animal did not have teeth made of enamel and dentine like today's birds, but bony "pseudo-teeth" common to a group of extinct giant birds called pelagornithids.