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Emitting swift keck-keck-keck sounds that echoed through a central Berlin park, the large hawks climbed far over the treetops and wheeled before plunging downwards to drive away a disorganized group of crows that had started to harass them.

"It's essentially a flying superhero enforcing law and order to the city," remarked a conservationist, watching the sizable pale-bellied birds through a telescope. "They're like stealth bombers."

The Accipiter gentilis is an apex predator – and experts hope it will soon deliver awe and joy to UK cities, following its presence in German metropolises. In the United Kingdom, this swift bird of prey was persecuted to virtual extinction and only began to bounce back in countryside regions during the 1960s. It is still widely targeted on private lands and grouse moors.

Thriving in European Capitals

In other parts of the continent, the northern goshawk is doing well – even in busy cities such as the German capital, the Dutch capital, and Prague. From a park in Berlin, where a large nest rested in the top of a tree less than 100 metres from a monument, the "phantom of the forest" hunts city birds in the roads and even perches on rooftops.

The raptors have adjusted to busy traffic – while high glass buildings still present a threat – and are far more comfortable with the steady stream of dogwalkers, runners, and schoolchildren than their forest-dwelling relatives would be with people.

"It is similar to any green space in the UK, that's the amazing thing," said the head of a rewilding project, which aims to bring these raptors to Chester and London in the first stage of a project reintroducing them to urban environments. "It demonstrates this can be accomplished quickly – with little much fuss, but with so much excitement."

Assisted Colonisation Plan

The conservationist is preparing to submit a proposal for the "assisted colonisation" of the goshawk to the regulator in the coming weeks; the plan foresees the freeing of 15 birds in both of the two cities, obtained as juveniles from natural European eyries and British aviaries.

He hopes they will come to the rescue of the UK's beleaguered garden birds by preying on mid-sized predators such as crows, black-and-white birds, and jackdaws, whose numbers have increased without control and threatened birds lower on the food chain.

Their arrival should have an immediate effect on the "bold" medium-sized birds that prey on smaller ones that the public adore, says the conservationist, referencing a comparable phenomenon observed in canine predators. "It's what's known as an ecology of fear. Everybody knows the apex predators are in the city."

Potential Challenges and Dangers

Conservation projects across Europe have faced fierce opposition from agricultural workers and political factions in the past decade, as large predators such as wild canines and bears have returned to lands now populated by humans. As their populations have grown, they have begun to eat livestock and in some cases confront individuals.

The reintroduction of the goshawk into city Britain is unlikely to spark a comparable resistance – the birds already reside in other parts of the country, and animal guardians and city residents have little to worry about from them – but the species has caused conflicts even in cities it has inhabited for years.

In the German capital, where an approximate 100 mated couples represent the highest-known density in the globe, and other European cities, these hawks have turned into the target of bird fanciers whose birds are being consumed.

A scientist who has studied raptor adjustment to urban settings used GPS trackers to follow 60 birds as part of her PhD, and says that although there could be possible advantages from employing these predators to control mid-level predators in UK cities, young birds taken from rural nests may struggle to adapt to city life and stressed the importance to include all stakeholders from the start. "In general, it's a risky business."

Scientific Views

An ornithologist who has examined goshawk behavior in non-urban 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 significant beneficial effect on garden bird numbers. "What will happen of those 15 birds?" he said. "My guess is they'll probably scatter into the closest rural areas."

The conservationist is nonetheless upbeat about the initiative's prospects. The specialist, who has previously been awarded a licence to tag the Highland tiger and was a technical adviser for a project that reintroduced the large bird back to the UK, argues that handling reintroductions in a "humane way" is the key to success.

Past Reintroduction Efforts

The conservationist's initial effort to reintroduce wild cats to the United Kingdom was refused by the government secretary on the advice of the nature agency in recent years. A preliminary application for a trial reintroduction has also met resistance, even though the chair of the nature organization lately expressed enthusiasm about the idea of releasing the feline predator during his 24-month tenure.

If the goshawk initiative goes ahead, the raptors will be equipped with GPS devices – an endeavour projected to account for almost half of the estimated project cost of £110,000 – and be provided a steady source of food for as much as is needed after being released. In the German city, the expert highlighted the psychological benefit of urban residents being able to observe a hunter as secretive as the raptor while they conduct their daily routines, rather than placing rewilding schemes exclusively in rural locations.

"It will bring such excitement," he said. "Individuals go to the park to feed pigeons. In the future they'll be traveling to observe goshawks."