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Producing rapid keck-keck-keck cries that rang out through a downtown Berlin park, the large hawks climbed far above the canopy and circled before swooping down to scatter a ragged flock of black birds that had begun to mob them.

"It's essentially a flying Batman enforcing justice to the city," remarked a conservationist, watching the sizable light-breasted birds through binoculars. "They are like fighter jets."

The Accipiter gentilis is an top predator – and experts aspire it will soon deliver awe and joy to UK cities, mirroring its success in European metropolises. In the United Kingdom, this swift raptor was persecuted to near extinction and just started to bounce back in rural areas during the 1960s. It is still widely persecuted on shooting estates and hunting grounds.

Flourishing in Continental Cities

In different parts of the continent, the northern goshawk is doing well – even in bustling cities such as Berlin, Amsterdam, and Prague. From a park in the city, where a large eyrie sat in the crown of a tree less than 100 metres from a monument, the elusive hunter preys on pigeons in the roads and even perches on rooftops.

The birds have adapted to heavy traffic – while high transparent structures still present a threat – and are far more comfortable with the steady stream of dogwalkers, joggers, and schoolchildren than their forest-dwelling counterparts would be with people.

"It is just like any park in the United Kingdom, that's the magical aspect," commented the director of a rewilding project, which aims to introduce 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 so much enthusiasm."

Urban Reintroduction Plan

The expert is planning to submit a proposal for the "urban reintroduction" of the goshawk to the authorities in the coming weeks; the scheme envisions the release of 15 birds in each of the selected urban areas, obtained as juveniles from natural continental eyries and British aviaries.

He expects they will provide help of the UK's beleaguered songbirds 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 arrival should have an immediate impact on the "bold" mid-sized birds that prey on tiny species that people love, explains the conservationist, pointing to a comparable effect observed in canine predators. "It's what's known as an landscape of fear. Everyone knows the apex predators are in town."

Potential Hurdles and Risks

Rewilding projects throughout the continent have encountered fierce resistance from agricultural workers and political factions in recent years, as big carnivores such as wolves and ursines have come back to lands now populated by humans. As their populations have grown, they have begun to eat livestock and in certain instances attack individuals.

The reintroduction of the raptor into city England is unlikely to trigger a similar backlash – the species currently reside in different parts of the country, and animal guardians and city residents have little to fear from them – but the bird has caused conflicts even in urban centers it has long called home.

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

A scientist who has studied raptor adjustment to city settings used GPS transmitters to follow 60 birds as part of her doctorate, and says that while there could be potential benefits from employing these predators to regulate mesopredators in UK cities, young birds removed from rural homes may find it hard to adjust to urban life and emphasized the importance to include all interested parties early on. "In general, it's a hazardous endeavour."

Expert Opinions

An ornithologist who has examined hawk behaviour in rural England commented it was uncertain if the raptors would choose to remain in urban environments and improbable that the suggested quantity would be enough to have a significant beneficial effect on garden bird numbers. "What is the fate of those 15 birds?" he said. "I suspect is they'll likely scatter into the nearest rural areas."

The project leader is nevertheless optimistic about the initiative's chances. The expert, who has previously been awarded a licence to tag the Scottish wildcat and was a scientific adviser for a program that reintroduced the large bird back to the UK, argues that approaching reintroductions in a "humane way" is the essential element to success.

Past Reintroduction Efforts

The expert's initial effort to bring back wild cats to the United Kingdom was rejected by the government secretary on the recommendation of the wildlife agency in 2018. A draft proposal for a test reintroduction has also met opposition, although the head of the environmental body lately expressed interest about the idea of releasing lynx during his 24-month tenure.

If the hawk project proceeds, the raptors will be equipped with GPS transmitters – an task projected to account for almost 50% of the projected project cost of £110,000 – and be provided a steady source of nourishment for as much as is needed after being freed. In Berlin, the conservationist stressed the psychological benefit of urban residents being able to observe a hunter as secretive as the goshawk while they go about their daily routines, rather than placing rewilding schemes only in rural areas.

"It'll bring such thrill," he declared. "People go to the green space to feed pigeons. In the future they'll be traveling to observe goshawks."