🔗 Share this article

Producing rapid keck-keck-keck cries that echoed across a central Berlin park, the large hawks soared high over the canopy and wheeled before diving down to drive away a disorganized flock of black birds that had started to mob them.

"It's essentially a flying Batman bringing law and order to the urban environment," remarked a wildlife expert, watching the sizable pale-bellied birds through binoculars. "They're akin to fighter jets."

The goshawk is an apex predator – and experts aspire it will soon deliver wonder and delight to British cities, mirroring its success in European urban areas. In the United Kingdom, this fast-moving raptor was persecuted to virtual extinction and only started to recover in rural areas during the mid-20th century. It is still commonly targeted on private lands and grouse moors.

Thriving in Continental Cities

In other parts of Europe, the northern goshawk is doing well – even in busy cities such as Berlin, Amsterdam, and Prague. From a park in the city, where a large eyrie sat in the top of a tree under 100 metres from a monument, the elusive hunter preys on city birds in the roads and even perches on rooftops.

The raptors have adjusted to heavy traffic – while high glass buildings still pose a threat – and are much more at ease with the steady stream of pet owners, joggers, and schoolchildren than their forest-dwelling counterparts would be with people.

"This is similar to any green space in the United Kingdom, that's the amazing aspect," commented the director of a rewilding initiative, which plans to bring goshawks to Chester and London in the initial phase of a project reintroducing them to urban environments. "It demonstrates this can be done quickly – with little difficulty, but with great excitement."

Urban Reintroduction Plan

The conservationist is planning to present a application for the "assisted colonisation" of the goshawk to the regulator in the coming weeks; the plan foresees the release of 15 birds in both of the selected urban areas, sourced as chicks from wild European eyries and British breeders.

He hopes they will provide help of Britain's beleaguered songbirds by hunting mesopredators such as crows, magpies, and jackdaws, whose numbers have grown unchecked and endangered birds further down the ecological pyramid.

Their arrival should have an immediate impact on the "bold" medium-sized birds that attack smaller ones that the public adore, says the conservationist, pointing to a similar phenomenon observed in wolves. "It's what's known as an ecology of fear. Everybody realizes the big guys are in town."

Possible Challenges and Risks

Rewilding efforts across Europe have faced strong resistance from agricultural workers and activist groups in recent years, as big carnivores such as wild canines and ursines have returned to lands now inhabited by people. As their numbers have grown, they have begun to consume livestock and in certain instances attack individuals.

The reintroduction of the raptor into city England is unlikely to spark a comparable backlash – the species already live in different parts of the nation, and pet-owners and urban gardeners have little to fear from them – but the species has created conflicts even in cities it has long called home.

In the German capital, where an estimated 100 mated couples constitute the highest-known concentration in the globe, and other European cities, these hawks have turned into the focus of bird fanciers whose animals are being consumed.

A scientist who has researched goshawk adjustment to city environments used GPS transmitters to follow 60 birds as part of her PhD, and states that while there could be potential benefits from using goshawks to regulate mesopredators in British cities, chicks removed from rural homes may struggle to adjust to city life and stressed the importance to include all interested parties early on. "In general, it's a hazardous endeavour."

Scientific Opinions

An ecologist who has examined goshawk behaviour in non-urban England said it was uncertain if the raptors would decide to remain in urban environments and unlikely that the suggested numbers would be sufficient to have a noticeable positive impact on garden bird numbers. "What is the fate of those 15 birds?" he said. "I suspect is they'll likely disperse into the closest countryside."

The conservationist is nevertheless upbeat about the project's chances. The specialist, who has in the past been awarded a permit to tag the Highland tiger and was a technical consultant for a program that reintroduced the large bird back to the UK, contends that handling reintroductions in a "welfare-based manner" is the essential element to success.

Previous Reintroduction Attempts

The expert's first effort to reintroduce lynx to the United Kingdom was refused by the government official on the advice of the nature body in 2018. A preliminary proposal for a trial release has also met opposition, although the chair of the nature body lately expressed enthusiasm about the prospect of reintroducing lynx during his 24-month tenure.

If the hawk initiative proceeds, the birds will be fitted with GPS devices – an task expected to represent almost half of the projected budget of £110,000 – and be provided a regular source of nourishment for as much as is required after being released. In Berlin, the expert stressed the mental benefit of city-dwellers being able to observe a hunter as secretive as the goshawk while they conduct their daily routines, rather than placing rewilding schemes exclusively in countryside areas.

"It'll bring such thrill," he declared. "People visit the green space to give food to birds. In the future they'll be traveling to observe goshawks."