Bat Rehabilitation in Hampshire

If you find an injured or orphaned bat in Hampshire, please contact 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. For less urgent situations, please contact our bat carers by email at batcarehantsbats(at)gmail.com.

The Bat Conservation Trust Helpline on 0345 1300 228 is also available. BCT will put you in touch with your nearest bat rehabilitator. From October-April (non-peak season): Monday-Friday, 9am-5.30pm. From May-September the Out of Hours Helpline is also available in the evenings and weekends. Please note that the out of hours helpline is run by volunteers and is for emergency calls only.

Hampshire Bat Group trustees and members include a number of BCT registered bat ambulance drivers, carers and rehabilitators, who undertake a huge amount of work every year. In an average year we estimate 150 bats are picked up and cared for. These have included common, soprano and Nathusius' pipistrelles, brown long-eared bats, Daubenton's, Whiskered, Brandt's, serotine and noctule bats. We have even cared for very rare species including grey long-eared and alcathoe bats.

Spreading the word

One of the very important things we do is to raise awareness of bats throughout the county, by getting ‘out and about’ - i.e. taking information about bats and their conservation to the general public and helping to dispel any myths that might still remain! We do this in a variety of ways.

Firstly, we attend shows and festivals in the spring and summer months, with our Bat Stand. In a typical year these number twenty or so, including the three day New Forest Show, the Romsey Show and the Gilbert White Museum's Nature Day.  These events are staffed by a dedicated core of volunteers, with other members helping on rotation and everyone finds it to be a rewarding experience.  Help is always needed so please contact our committee if you would like to assist with shows – you don’t need to be an expert!

Secondly, some members give talks, including to other wildlife groups, to community organisations and to schoolchildren.  It’s not unusual for groups totalling 150-300 to be educated in one day!  Some members also give talks at more specialised conferences such as the South East Bat Conference and the HBIC Forum.

Thirdly, we lead bat walks, sometimes preceded by a talk. We either organise these ourselves or are invited to lead them by other organisations such as the Forestry Commission, in which case they will be open to the general public.  In a typical year there might be two or three a month during the spring and summer, with the majority open to both members and non members. This is a good way to get an introduction to ‘batting’ if you are new to the Group.

All our activities are generally listed on the website and in our newsletter, 'Bat Droppings'.

Presentations that we have given or will give during 2026 include:

'Bats, Superheroes of the Night' for Shedfield Greening, the Petersfield Bookshop talks programme, the Tree and Bee Network at Bishopstoke and Fair Oak, the Friends of the Curtis Museum and Allen Gallery at Alton, the Cumberland House Museum at Southsea and the Colden Common Community Association.

"The Science of Bats" for the Bishops Waltham Wilder Group.

Bat presentations to the Women's Institutes at Chandlers Ford and Winchester

Bat talks and walks for various schools and youth groups (including Scouts, Guides, Brownies, Beavers and Cubs)

"Bats in the Historic Environment" for the Managing Wildlife in the Historic Environment course at West Dean College

Bat echolocation spectrogram analysis workshops for volunteers

Public events to which we have taken or will take our display during 2026 include:

19th Feb - South Downs National Park Dark Skies event, Queen Elizabeth Country Park

28th March - Hampshire Ornithological Society Open Day, Winchester

10th May - Nature Festival at the Gilbert White Museum at Selborne

16th May - Eco Fair at the Wicor Primary School at Portchester

14th June - Itchen Valley Country Park Wild About Nature event - Southampton

17th June - Petersfield Eco Fair

28th, 28th, 30th July - New Forest and County Show - Brockenhurst

1st August - Natural Basingstoke BioBlitz at Beggarwood

6th August - Lepe Wildlife Wonders  - Lepe Country Park

8th and 9th August - Hawk Conservancy Big Wild Weekend - Weyhill

12th September - Romsey Show - Broadlands

11th October - Blackmoor Apple Tasting Day

October - Bursledon Brickworks Halloween Steam Up

Bat walks which we will lead during 2026 include the following. Please note that we are not organising these walks but are assisting other organisations. Places are limited and bookings can be made with the organisations concerned.

24th April - for the Basingstoke Canal Society

28th April for the Winchester Action on Climate Change

29th April - for the Friends of St Giles Hill Park at Winchester

27th May - for the Alton Walking Festival

5th September - for the Friends of St Giles Hill Park at Winchester