Releasing rapid keck-keck-keck sounds that resounded through a central Berlin green space, the goshawks soared high above the treetops and wheeled before plunging downwards to drive away a disorganized flock of crows that had begun to harass them.
"It's essentially a soaring Batman bringing law and order to the urban environment," stated a conservationist, observing the large light-breasted birds through a telescope. "They are akin to stealth bombers."
The goshawk is an apex predator – and experts aspire it will soon bring awe and delight to British cities, mirroring its presence in German metropolises. In the UK, this swift bird of prey was hunted to virtual disappearance and only began to recover in countryside areas during the mid-20th century. It remains widely persecuted on private lands and grouse moors.
Thriving in European Cities
In different parts of the continent, the goshawk is thriving – even in busy capitals such as the German capital, Amsterdam, and Prague. From a public garden in Berlin, where a sizable nest rested in the top of a tree less than 100 metres from a war memorial, the elusive hunter preys on city birds in the streets and even rests on rooftops.
The raptors have adjusted to busy traffic – although tall glass buildings still present a threat – and are far more comfortable with the constant flow of dogwalkers, joggers, and schoolchildren than their woodland counterparts would be with people.
"It is similar to any park in the UK, that's the magical thing," commented the director of a rewilding project, which aims to bring these raptors to two UK cities in the first stage of a program reintroducing them to cities. "It proves this can be done swiftly – without difficulty, but with great enthusiasm."
Assisted Colonisation Plan
The expert is planning to present a proposal for the "assisted colonisation" of the goshawk to the regulator in the near future; the scheme foresees the freeing of 15 birds in both of the selected urban areas, obtained as chicks from wild European eyries and British breeders.
He expects they will provide help of Britain's beleaguered garden birds by hunting mesopredators such as crows, black-and-white birds, and jackdaws, whose numbers have increased unchecked and threatened birds further down the food chain.
Their presence should have an immediate effect on the "bold" mid-sized birds that attack tiny species that people love, says the conservationist, referencing a similar phenomenon documented in canine predators. "It's what's known as an landscape of fear. Everyone realizes the big guys are in the city."
Possible Challenges and Risks
Rewilding efforts throughout Europe have encountered strong resistance from agricultural workers and political factions in recent years, as big carnivores such as wild canines and ursines have returned to territories now populated by humans. As their numbers have grown, they have begun to eat farm animals and in some cases confront humans.
The introduction of the raptor into city Britain is unlikely to trigger a similar resistance – the birds already live in different parts of the country, 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 approximate 100 mated couples constitute the highest-known density in the world, and additional European towns, these hawks have turned into the focus of pigeon and chicken breeders whose birds are being eaten.
A scientist who has studied raptor adaptation to urban environments employed GPS trackers to follow 60 goshawks as part of her PhD, and says that although there could be potential benefits from using goshawks to regulate mid-level predators in UK cities, young birds removed from countryside nests may struggle to adapt to city life and stressed the need to involve all stakeholders from the start. "Overall, it's a risky business."
Expert Views
An ecologist who has studied hawk behavior in rural England said it was unclear if the raptors would choose to remain in cities and unlikely that the suggested quantity would be enough to have a noticeable beneficial impact on garden bird populations. "What will happen of those 15 birds?" he said. "My guess is they'll probably disperse into the closest rural areas."
The conservationist is nevertheless upbeat about the project's prospects. The specialist, who has in the past been granted a licence to track the Highland tiger and was a technical adviser for a project that reintroduced the great bustard back to the UK, contends that approaching reintroductions in a "welfare-based manner" is the essential element to achievement.
Previous Reintroduction Attempts
The expert's initial effort to reintroduce lynx to the UK was refused by the environment secretary on the recommendation of the wildlife agency in recent years. A draft proposal for a test reintroduction has also met opposition, even though the chair of the nature organization recently expressed enthusiasm about the prospect of releasing the feline predator during his two-year tenure.
If the goshawk project proceeds, the raptors will be fitted with GPS transmitters – an endeavour projected to account for almost 50% of the estimated project cost of £110,000 – and be given a steady supply of nourishment for as long as is required after being freed. In the German city, the expert highlighted the mental advantage of urban residents being able to observe a hunter as elusive as the raptor while they go about their lives, rather than placing rewilding schemes exclusively in rural areas.
"It'll inject such thrill," he declared. "Individuals go to the green space to give food to birds. In the future they'll be going to see goshawks."
