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Producing swift keck-keck-keck sounds that echoed across a central Berlin park, the goshawks climbed far over the canopy and circled before plunging down to scatter a disorganized group of crows that had begun to mob them.

"It's basically a soaring superhero bringing law and order to the city," remarked a wildlife expert, watching the large light-breasted birds through a telescope. "They're like fighter jets."

The Accipiter gentilis is an top predator – and conservationists hope it will soon deliver awe and joy to British cities, following its success in European urban areas. In the United Kingdom, this swift raptor was hunted to virtual disappearance and just started to bounce back in countryside regions during the 1960s. It remains widely persecuted on private lands and grouse moors.

Thriving in Continental Cities

In different parts of the continent, the northern goshawk is doing well – even in bustling cities such as the German capital, Amsterdam, and the Czech capital. From a park in the city, where a large nest sat in the top of a tree under 100 metres from a monument, the elusive hunter preys on pigeons in the streets and even rests on building tops.

The birds have adapted to busy vehicle flow – while tall glass buildings still present a danger – and are much more at ease with the steady stream of pet owners, joggers, and kids than their forest-dwelling counterparts would be with people.

"It is just like any park in the UK, that's the amazing thing," said the head of a rewilding project, which plans to introduce these raptors to Chester and London in the initial phase of a program introducing them to urban environments. "It demonstrates this can be accomplished quickly – with little difficulty, but with great enthusiasm."

Urban Reintroduction Plan

The expert is planning to submit a proposal for the "assisted colonisation" of the northern goshawk to the authorities in the coming weeks; the scheme envisions the freeing of 15 birds in both of the two cities, sourced as juveniles from wild European nests and UK breeders.

He expects they will provide help of the UK's beleaguered garden birds by hunting mid-sized predators such as corvids, black-and-white birds, and small crows, whose populations have increased without control and threatened birds lower on the ecological pyramid.

Their presence 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 comparable phenomenon documented in canine predators. "It's what's known as an landscape of fear. Everyone realizes the apex predators are in town."

Possible Challenges and Risks

Conservation efforts across the continent have encountered fierce opposition from farmers and political factions in the past decade, as large carnivores such as wild canines and bears have come back to lands now populated by humans. As their numbers have expanded, they have started to eat farm animals and in some cases confront humans.

The reintroduction of the goshawk into urban Britain is unlikely to trigger a similar backlash – the birds already live in other parts of the country, and pet-owners and urban gardeners have minimal to fear from them – but the species has created conflicts even in cities it has long called home.

In Berlin, where an approximate 100 breeding pairs represent the highest-known density in the globe, and other German towns, these hawks have become the target of bird fanciers whose birds are being eaten.

A scientist who has researched goshawk adjustment to city settings used GPS trackers to monitor 60 birds as part of her PhD, and states that while there could be possible benefits from using these predators to control mesopredators in British cities, young birds removed from countryside nests may struggle to adapt to urban life and stressed the need to involve all stakeholders early on. "Overall, it's a hazardous business."

Scientific Views

An ecologist who has studied hawk behaviour in rural Britain commented it was unclear if the birds would decide to remain in cities and improbable that the proposed quantity would be sufficient to have a significant beneficial impact on backyard species numbers. "What is the fate of those 15 birds?" he asked. "My guess is they'll likely disperse into the nearest countryside."

The conservationist is nevertheless upbeat about the initiative's chances. The expert, who has previously been awarded a licence to track the Highland tiger and was a scientific consultant for a program that reintroduced the large bird back to the UK, argues that handling releases in a "welfare-based manner" is the key to achievement.

Previous Reintroduction Efforts

The conservationist's initial effort to reintroduce wild cats to the United Kingdom was rejected by the government official on the recommendation of the nature body in recent years. A preliminary proposal for a trial release has also met resistance, even though the chair of the environmental body recently expressed enthusiasm about the idea of reintroducing lynx during his two-year tenure.

If the hawk project proceeds, the birds will be fitted with GPS devices – an endeavour projected to account for almost 50% of the estimated project cost of £110,000 – and be given a steady supply of food for as much as is needed after being freed. In Berlin, the expert highlighted the mental benefit of urban residents being able to observe a predator as elusive as the raptor while they conduct their daily routines, rather than placing conservation schemes only in rural locations.

"It'll bring such excitement," he said. "Individuals visit the green space to feed birds. In the future they'll be traveling to observe goshawks."