Sparrowhawks are city slickers

City sparrowhawks fare better than those living in the country, a study said to be the first of its kind has found.

Researchers from RSPB Scotland and the Scottish Raptor Study Group examined differences between populations of the birds in Edinburgh and in the Ayrshire countryside over four years from 2009 to 2012.

They found that city hawks had “significantly greater” breeding success than the rural ones, while territories in the urban environment were occupied far more frequently than those in the country.

Of the 20 breeding attempts that failed, only two were recorded in the urban study area, the rest in the rural area.

Michael Thornton, lead author of the paper and member of the Lothian and Borders Raptor Study Group, said: “This study clearly shows that urban green spaces such as parks, gardens and golf courses provide both suitable nest sites and an abundance of prey species to support high breeding success in this charismatic predator, and it is important that we protect these areas for urban wildlife and for our own health and wellbeing.”

Researchers found the number of nest desertions was much higher in the country, and it was this complete failure of numerous nests that caused lower breeding success in the rural sparrowhawk population.

In total, 195 sparrowhawk pairs were located in the two study areas across 117 sites.