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Releasing rapid keck-keck-keck sounds that echoed through a downtown Berlin green space, the goshawks climbed high above the treetops and circled before swooping down to drive away a ragged flock of black birds that had begun to mob them.

"It's essentially a soaring Batman enforcing law and order to the urban environment," remarked a conservationist, watching the large light-breasted birds through binoculars. "They're like fighter jets."

The goshawk is an top predator – and conservationists hope it will soon bring wonder and joy to UK cities, mirroring its success in German urban areas. In the United Kingdom, this swift raptor was hunted to near disappearance and only started to bounce back in countryside regions during the 1960s. It is still commonly targeted on private lands and grouse moors.

Flourishing in Continental Capitals

In other parts of the continent, the goshawk is doing well – even in bustling cities such as Berlin, the Dutch capital, and Prague. From a park in the city, where a large nest sat in the crown of a tree under 100 metres from a monument, the "phantom of the forest" hunts city birds in the streets and even rests on rooftops.

The raptors have adapted to busy vehicle flow – while high transparent structures still present a threat – and are much more comfortable with the constant flow of pet owners, runners, and schoolchildren than their woodland counterparts would be with people.

"This is just like any green space in the United Kingdom, that's the magical thing," said the director of a rewilding project, which aims to introduce these raptors to two UK cities in the first stage of a project introducing them to cities. "It demonstrates this can be accomplished quickly – with little much fuss, but with great excitement."

Assisted Colonisation Proposal

The conservationist is planning to submit a application for the "assisted colonisation" of the goshawk to the authorities in the near future; the scheme foresees 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, magpies, and small crows, whose populations have increased without control and endangered birds lower on the ecological pyramid.

Their presence should have an immediate impact on the "brazen" mid-sized birds that attack tiny species that the public love, explains the conservationist, pointing to a similar effect documented in wolves. "It's what's called an landscape of fear. Everyone knows the big guys are in town."

Possible Challenges and Risks

Rewilding efforts across the continent have encountered fierce resistance from agricultural workers and activist factions in the past decade, as big predators such as wild canines and ursines have come back to territories now inhabited by people. As their populations have grown, they have begun to eat livestock and in some cases confront humans.

The introduction of the raptor into urban England is not expected to spark a similar backlash – the birds currently reside in different parts of the nation, and animal guardians and urban gardeners have minimal to fear from them – but the species has created conflicts even in cities it has inhabited for years.

In the German capital, where an estimated 100 mated couples constitute the largest density in the globe, and additional European towns, these hawks have become the target of bird fanciers whose birds are being consumed.

A researcher who has studied goshawk adjustment to urban environments used GPS trackers to monitor 60 goshawks as part of her PhD, and says that while there could be possible benefits from employing goshawks to regulate mid-level predators in UK cities, chicks taken from countryside homes may find it hard to adjust to city life and emphasized the importance to involve all interested parties from the start. "Overall, it's a hazardous endeavour."

Expert Views

An ornithologist who has examined goshawk behavior in rural Britain 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 positive impact on backyard species populations. "What is the fate of those 15 birds?" he asked. "My guess is they'll probably scatter into the closest rural areas."

The project leader is nevertheless upbeat about the initiative's prospects. The expert, who has previously been awarded a permit to tag the Scottish wildcat and was a technical consultant for a program that brought the great bustard back to the United Kingdom, contends that handling releases in a "welfare-based manner" is the key to achievement.

Past Rewilding Efforts

The expert's first attempt to bring back wild cats to the UK was refused by the government official on the recommendation of the wildlife agency in recent years. A draft application for a trial release has also faced resistance, although the head of the environmental organization recently showed enthusiasm about the prospect of reintroducing lynx during his 24-month term.

If the goshawk initiative proceeds, the raptors will be fitted with GPS transmitters – an task expected to represent almost half of the estimated budget of £110,000 – and be given a regular source of food for as much as is needed after being freed. In the German city, the conservationist highlighted 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 conservation projects exclusively in rural areas.

"It'll inject such excitement," he said. "People go to the park to give food to pigeons. In the future they'll be traveling to see goshawks."