Mottisfont Bats is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest west of Winchester in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

. It is also a

Special Area of Conservation A Special Area of Conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the ''Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora''. They are to protect the 220 habitats and a ...

. The site consists of woods around

Mottisfont Mottisfont is a village and civil parish in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England, approximately 7 km north west of Romsey. The village is best known as the location of Mottisfont Abbey. Much of the surrounding land, which is part o ...

, which supports a population of the

barbastelle ''Barbastella'' is a genus of vespertilionid bats. There are seven extant species in this genus and one only known from fossil remains. Species The genus consists of the following species: * ''Barbastella barbastellus'' – western barbastelle ...

bat which is considered by

Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...

to be of national importance. The site is used by the barbastelles for breeding, roosting, commuting and feeding. It is the only known maternity roost in Hampshire and one of only six known sites in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as of 2002. Eight other bat species have been recorded at Mottisfont: whiskered, brown long-eared, common and soprano pipistrelles,

serotine The serotine bat (''Eptesicus serotinus''), also known as the common serotine bat, big brown bat, or silky bat, is a fairly large Eurasian bat with quite large ears. It has a wingspan of around and often hunts in woodland. It sometimes roost ...

noctule ''Nyctalus'' is a genus of vespertilionid bats commonly known as the noctule bats. They are distributed in the temperate and subtropical areas of Europe, Asia and North Africa. There are eight species within this genus: * Birdlike noctule, ''N ...

, Daubenton's and Natterer's. Mottisfont contains a mix of woodland types including hazel

coppice Coppicing is a traditional method of woodland management which exploits the capacity of many species of trees to put out new shoots from their stump or roots if cut down. In a coppiced wood, which is called a copse, young tree stems are repeate ...

with standards, broadleaved plantation and coniferous plantation.

References

{{coord, 51.05139, -1.55341, type:landmark_region:GB_source:enwiki-osgb36(SU314281), display=title Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Hampshire Sites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 2003 Woodland Sites of Special Scientific Interest Special Areas of Conservation in England