Hampshire Bat Group is a registered charity made up of volunteer members. 

As a partner group to the Bat Conservation Trust, we aim to promote and support bat conservation in Hampshire and to raise public awareness about these fascinating animals.  Bats need our help because they face many threats, including from loss of habitat, loss of roost sites, light pollution and decline in the abundance of nocturnal insects.

Please note that, as a matter of policy, Hampshire Bat Group does not undertake surveys for commercial purposes or to make formal objections to planning applications.

Have you discovered a sick or injured bat?

For Bat Care and Rescue, phone Hampshire Bat Group carers on 07760 504257. If there is no answer, please leave a voicemail or a text message, giving us your name, area and phone number.

The Bat Conservation Trust helpline 0345 1300 228 is also available. Please see our 'What we do' page for further information.

Bats in your home?

See the website of the Bat Conservation Trust for information on the law and sources of advice.

Our meetings

We are looking forward to welcoming our members and guests to the meetings in our 2024/5 season, all at the Swanwick Lakes Study Centre, Sopwith Way, SO31 7AY. Meetings start at 7.30pm. We aim to open the doors for refreshments and chat by 7pm.

Thursday 24th October 2024. Our meeting included four short presentations:

Sinead McCarthy and Simon Boswell told us about the extensive bat surveys and mitigation work being carried out on the site of the new Havant Thicket Reservoir.

Simon Bizley gave a presentation about the conversion of a second world war structure into a bat roost.

Richard Codlin showed us some of his impressive bat videos taken with his infra-red equipment.

Thursday 28th November 2024. Adrian Bicker will give us presentations on three topics:

High Quality Infra-Red Video for Bat Surveys. Since Adrian's previous talk he has pushed the limits further and is happy to show us what is now possible and share his knowledge of IR illumination and camera equipment.

On Chesil Beach - Nathusius' pipistrelle migration research. How has the pattern of migration activity changed since his first survey in 2017? There are some surprises.

Mind the Gap. Understanding the echoes of bat calls that we see in full-spectrum recordings and using these to add meaning, such as the direction of flight and the likely height of the bat.

Wednesday 19th February 2025. Our meeting will include several short presentations:

Carolyn Hargreaves will give a talk titled Bat Care 2024.

Wednesday 26th March 2025. Dr Jorn Cheney will tell us about Bat Flight

Thursday 24th April 2025. AGM. Speaker to be confirmed

During the past 2023/24 season, meetings were held in the evenings of Thursdays 26/10/23, 23/11/23, 15/2/24, 28/3/24 and 25/4/24. At the March meeting we celebrated our 40th anniversary with displays and special guest speakers.

Thursday 26th October 2023.  Nik Knight, the Hampshire County Bat Recorder, gave a presentation about the Hampshire Bat Records. It is essential for effective bat conservation to know what species are present and where they live. Modern methods are allowing us to make great progress in the number and accuracy of our observations, but much more remains to be done.

Thursday 23rd November 2023.  Our member Matthew Norris-Hill gave us a presentation on the work of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group South East, with particular emphasis on bats. His title was: "The work of FWAG and How Farm Cluster Groups Can Support Wildlife in the Digital Age". Matthew works with farm cluster groups bringing farmers and landowners together with conservation organisations to work collectively towards environmental and wildlife objectives.

Thursday 15th February 2024. Talk by Claire Andrews about bat hibernation. What is hibernation and what do we understand about it? Claire will illustrate her talk with examples of hibernation sites, including from Berkshire.

Thursday 28th March 2024. Venue: East Meon Village Hall, GU32 1PF. Our 40th anniversary celebrations. Guest Speakers: Chris Packham, President of the Bat Conservation Trust and Lisa Worledge, Head of Conservation at the Bat Conservation Trust. Our main activity was the showing of bat videos and films from the 1960's to the present, including 16mm film, infra-red and thermal imaging videos.

Thursday 25th April 2024: AGM and bat detector workshop.

Contacts

For non-urgent bat care enquiries, please email us at batcarehantsbats(at)gmail.com

For general enquiries, to contribute records or to request bat distribution data searches, contact our Chair and County Recorder - Nik Knight - recordshantsbats(at)gmail.com

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