Modern British Goshawks

[Bladderwort]

Hello,

I have an old Collins Gem guide to Birds that I've had since I was a kid. The book is from 1980 and under the Goshawk illustration it says: "A few of these huge sparrowhawks are now nesting in some British woods though the majority have probably been released by falconers."

This got me thinking: were the birds that are flying around nowadays once deliberately re-released? If so, where did the stock come from? Also, could any Goshawks have flown over from mainland Europe by their own steam or do we just have to thank a few falconers for the reintroduction?

Thanks,

Curious of South London

[RKB]

The current consensus is that a large supply of escaped falconer's birds augmented a potential slow natural recolonisation. Without the feral escapees, it's unlikely that they'd have recolonised when they did, if at all.

Goshawks are very popular in falconry, and hundreds of falconer's birds are lost each year. The British Eagle Owl population (currently estimated at c.40 birds) are almost certainly entirely from escapees, and there are feral Lanner/Saker//Peregrine hybrid falcons all over the place - I saw a recent study that found a measureable percentage of Peregrines in (I think) Sweden were of escaped hybrid stock.

[Bladderwort]

Thanks for that. It really makes me think about how entwined people and wildlife are in this country.