Berlin's City Goshawks: A Blueprint for UK Cities?

Emitting swift keck-keck-keck calls that rang out across a central Berlin park, the large hawks climbed far over the treetops and circled before swooping down to scatter a ragged group of crows that had started to harass them.

"It's essentially a flying superhero enforcing justice to the city," stated a wildlife expert, watching the large light-breasted birds through a telescope. "They are like stealth bombers."

The Accipiter gentilis is an top predator – and experts hope it will soon deliver wonder and joy to British cities, following its success in European urban areas. In the UK, this fast-moving bird of prey was persecuted to near extinction and just began to recover in countryside areas during the 1960s. It remains commonly targeted on shooting estates and hunting grounds.

Thriving in Continental Cities

In different parts of Europe, the northern goshawk is thriving – even in busy capitals such as Berlin, the Dutch capital, and Prague. From a park in the city, where a large eyrie rested in the top of a tree less than 100 metres from a war memorial, the "phantom of the forest" preys on city birds in the roads and even rests on rooftops.

The raptors have adjusted to busy vehicle flow – while tall transparent structures still pose a danger – and are far more at ease with the constant flow of pet owners, runners, and kids than their woodland counterparts would be with humans.

"This is similar to any park in the United Kingdom, that's the magical aspect," said the director of a rewilding initiative, which plans to bring goshawks to two UK cities in the initial phase of a program reintroducing them to urban environments. "It demonstrates this can be done swiftly – without much fuss, but with great enthusiasm."

Assisted Colonisation Proposal

The conservationist is planning to submit a proposal for the "urban reintroduction" of the northern goshawk to the regulator in the near future; the scheme envisions the release of 15 birds in both of the two cities, obtained as juveniles from wild continental eyries and British aviaries.

He hopes they will provide help of Britain's beleaguered garden birds by preying on mesopredators such as crows, magpies, and jackdaws, whose numbers have grown unchecked and endangered birds lower on the food chain.

Their presence should have an instant impact on the "brazen" medium-sized birds that prey on tiny species that the public adore, says the scientist, referencing a similar phenomenon observed in canine predators. "This is what's called an landscape of fear. Everybody realizes the apex predators are in town."

Possible Hurdles and Risks

Conservation projects across Europe have faced fierce resistance from agricultural workers and political groups in recent years, as big carnivores such as wolves and bears have returned to territories now inhabited by humans. As their populations have expanded, they have started to consume farm animals and in certain instances confront individuals.

The reintroduction of the raptor into urban Britain is unlikely to spark a comparable backlash – the birds already live in different parts of the country, and animal guardians and urban gardeners have minimal to fear from them – but the species has created tensions even in urban centers it has inhabited for years.

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 focus of bird fanciers whose birds are being consumed.

A researcher who has researched goshawk adaptation to urban settings used GPS trackers to monitor 60 goshawks as part of her doctorate, and states that although there could be possible advantages from employing goshawks to regulate mid-level predators in British cities, chicks taken from countryside nests may find it hard to adapt to city life and stressed the importance to include all stakeholders from the start. "Overall, it's a risky endeavour."

Expert Opinions

An ecologist who has studied goshawk behaviour in rural Britain commented it was unclear if the raptors would choose to stay in cities and improbable that the proposed quantity would be enough to have a noticeable positive effect on garden bird numbers. "What is the fate of those 15 birds?" he said. "My guess is they'll probably scatter into the closest countryside."

The conservationist is nevertheless upbeat about the project's prospects. The expert, who has in the past been granted a permit to track the Highland tiger and was a scientific consultant for a program that brought the large bird back to the United Kingdom, argues that approaching releases in a "humane way" is the essential element to achievement.

Past Reintroduction Efforts

The expert's first effort to bring back 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 reintroduction has also met opposition, even though the chair of the environmental body recently showed enthusiasm about the idea of releasing the feline predator during his two-year tenure.

If the hawk initiative proceeds, the birds will be fitted with GPS devices – an endeavour expected to represent almost half 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 stressed the mental advantage of urban residents being able to spot a predator as elusive as the raptor while they conduct their lives, rather than placing rewilding schemes exclusively in rural locations.

"It will bring such excitement," he declared. "People go to the park to feed pigeons. Soon they'll be traveling to observe goshawks."