Goshawks are seen less often than might be expected for such a large raptor, but the New Fancy viewpoint in the Forest of Dean has become one of the prime sites in Britain for watching their spring display flights. Goshawks had ceased to breed in Britain by the mid-nineteenth century. The first definite modern Gloucestershire breeding record did not come until 1980 when a pair from Gwent arrived and nested in the county. Locations were kept a secret, and as a result the Goshawk spread rapidly. The present population is considered to consist entirely of lost or escaped captive birds and their descendants. By 1984 there were five known pairs in the county. This increased to 21 by 1995, and in the Dean and Wye Valley in 2011, there were 62 known nesting sites, most likely saturation point for the forest.
