🔗 Share this article

Releasing swift keck-keck-keck sounds that resounded across a central Berlin park, the large hawks climbed high above the canopy and circled before diving downwards to chase off a ragged flock of crows that had begun to harass them.

"It's essentially a soaring Batman bringing justice to the city," remarked a wildlife expert, observing the large pale-bellied birds through a telescope. "They're akin to stealth bombers."

The goshawk is an top predator – and conservationists aspire it will soon bring awe and delight to British cities, following its presence in European urban areas. In the UK, this fast-moving raptor was persecuted to near extinction and just began to recover in countryside areas during the 1960s. It is still commonly persecuted on private lands and grouse moors.

Flourishing in Continental Capitals

In different parts of the continent, the goshawk is doing well – even in busy capitals such as Berlin, the Dutch capital, and the Czech capital. From a public garden in the city, where a sizable eyrie rested in the crown of a tree under 100 metres from a monument, the "phantom of the forest" hunts city birds in the roads and even perches on building tops.

The birds have adapted to heavy traffic – although high transparent structures still pose a threat – and are far more at ease with the constant flow of dogwalkers, runners, and schoolchildren than their woodland relatives would be with humans.

"It is similar to any green space in the United Kingdom, that's the amazing aspect," said the director of a rewilding initiative, which aims to bring these raptors to Chester and London in the initial phase of a project reintroducing them to urban environments. "It demonstrates this can be accomplished swiftly – without much fuss, but with great enthusiasm."

Urban Reintroduction Plan

The expert is preparing to present a proposal for the "assisted colonisation" of the northern goshawk to the authorities in the coming weeks; the scheme foresees the freeing of 15 birds in both of the selected urban areas, sourced as juveniles from wild continental eyries and UK aviaries.

He expects they will come to the rescue of Britain's beleaguered garden birds by hunting mesopredators such as corvids, black-and-white birds, and jackdaws, whose numbers have grown without control and threatened birds lower on the food chain.

Their presence should have an instant impact on the "brazen" mid-sized birds that attack tiny species that the public love, says the scientist, referencing a comparable phenomenon documented in wolves. "It's what's called an ecology of fear. Everybody knows the apex predators are in town."

Potential Hurdles and Dangers

Rewilding projects across the continent have encountered strong resistance from farmers and political factions in the past decade, as large carnivores such as wild canines and bears have returned to territories now populated by people. As their populations have expanded, they have started to eat farm animals and in certain instances attack humans.

The reintroduction of the raptor into urban Britain is unlikely to spark a comparable backlash – the species already live in different parts of the country, and animal guardians and urban gardeners have little to fear from them – but the species has caused conflicts even in cities it has long called home.

In Berlin, where an approximate 100 mated couples constitute the highest-known concentration in the world, and additional European cities, goshawks have turned into the target of bird fanciers whose animals are being eaten.

A scientist who has researched goshawk adaptation to city environments used GPS transmitters to follow 60 goshawks as part of her PhD, and says that although there could be possible advantages from using goshawks to control mid-level predators in UK urban areas, chicks taken from countryside nests may find it hard to adapt to city life and stressed the importance to include all stakeholders early on. "Overall, it's a hazardous business."

Expert Opinions

An ornithologist who has examined goshawk behavior in rural Britain said it was unclear if the birds would choose to stay in cities and improbable that the suggested numbers would be enough to have a noticeable beneficial impact on garden bird populations. "What is the fate of those 15 birds?" he said. "My guess is they'll likely scatter into the closest rural areas."

The conservationist is nevertheless optimistic about the initiative's prospects. The expert, who has previously been granted a licence to track the Scottish wildcat and was a scientific adviser for a program that reintroduced the large bird back to the United Kingdom, argues that approaching releases in a "welfare-based manner" is the key to success.

Previous Rewilding Attempts

The conservationist's first attempt to reintroduce lynx to the United Kingdom was refused by the government secretary on the advice of the nature body in recent years. A preliminary proposal for a test release has also faced resistance, even though the chair of the nature body recently expressed enthusiasm about the prospect of reintroducing lynx during his two-year tenure.

If the hawk initiative proceeds, the birds will be equipped with GPS transmitters – an endeavour projected to represent almost 50% of the projected budget of £110,000 – and be given a steady supply of food for as much as is needed after being freed. In the German city, the expert highlighted the mental benefit of city-dwellers being able to observe a hunter as elusive as the raptor while they go about their daily routines, rather than placing conservation projects only in countryside areas.

"It'll inject such thrill," he said. "Individuals visit the green space to give food to pigeons. Soon they'll be traveling to observe hawks."