The Goshawk used to be widespread throughout Great Britain but became extinct in the late 19th century due to deforestation followed by relentless persecution.

They were reintroduced in the 1960's and the 1970's, not by any conservation organisation, but by falconers and hawk-keepers who brought birds into the country from Finland and Scandanavia. Some of these imported birds escaped from captivity and others were deliberately released, possibly to allow them to breed in the wild and thereafter to harvest the young. These released and escaped birds established scattered populations throughout the country.

The United Kingdom population has now increased to around 500 pairs and of these, Scotland has around 100 pairs. The two main populations in Scotland are in the north-east and another larger population in the Scottish Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.

The Borders population has benefited from the large forests such as those owned by the Forestry Commission. Here there is no persecution and the birds have been allowed to nest with little disturbance. Depite the high level of legal protection given to the Goshawk, its spread from these large forests into some of the surrounding privately owned woodlands has been restricted due to persecution.

Goshawks build a large nest in forests and large woods where there is little disturbance. They will return to the same nesting area each year where they will build a new nest, or alternatively they will refurbish and re-use an old nest.

For such a large bird they can be particularly elusive and secretive and can remain in an area for some time without being detected by the casual observer. However at certain times of the year they can be very noisey, in the spring when they are establishing their nesting territory and also in the late summer when young fledged Goshawks are calling for food.

They will take a wide variety of birds and small animals as prey, birds as small as Goldcrests to those as large as Pheasants. However about two thirds of their prey consists of Crows, Rooks and Pigeons.

Their reputation for taking gamebirds has led them to be the victim of widespread persecution. This persecution appears to be restricting their population spread into suitable habitats throughout Scotland. Their absence from some parts of the country is quite noticeable and cannot otherwise be readily explained.

DNA research into Goshawks is currently taking place and this will allow us to build up a better picture of the birds genetics, its dispersal from nesting areas and also the relationship of different birds in the population.

Malcolm Henderson

 


Goshawk Photographs © David Whitaker