Chiddingfold Forest is a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Site of Special Scientific Interest

A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...

 (SSSI) in south west Surrey

Surrey

Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

 and west Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It lies near Chiddingfold

Chiddingfold

Chiddingfold is a village and civil parish in the heart of The Weald in the Waverley district of Surrey, England. It lies on the A283 between Milford and Petworth...

 and Dunsfold

Dunsfold

Dunsfold is a village in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, 8.7 miles south of Guildford. The census area Chiddingfold and Dunsfold has a population of 3,812.-History:...

. The Forestry Commission

Forestry Commission

The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in Great Britain. Its mission is to protect and expand Britain's forests and woodlands and increase their value to society and the environment....

 owns and/or manages some 830 hectares (2,051 acre) of woodland in the forest complex of which 543.9 hectares (1,344 acre) is designated SSSI. It is one of fifteen SSSIs lying the borough of Waverley

Waverley, Surrey

Waverley is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. The borough's headquarters are in the town of Godalming, with Farnham and Haslemere being the other large notable towns....

.

The site lies within the Low Weald natural area and Surrey Hills

Surrey Hills AONB

The Surrey Hills is a Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty , located in Surrey, England. The AONB was designated in 1958 and covers one quarter of the county of Surrey...

 Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty is an area of countryside considered to have significant landscape value in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, that has been specially designated by the Countryside Agency on behalf of the United Kingdom government; the Countryside Council for Wales on...

 (AONB).

The rare pearl-bordered fritillary

Fritillary

Fritillaria is a genus of about 100 species of bulbous plants in the family Liliaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name is derived from the Latin term for a dice-box , and probably refers to the checkered pattern, frequently of chocolate-brown and greenish yellow,...

 grows in the forest. This is an important butterfly egg-laying area. There are also rare moth

Moth

A moth is an insect closely related to the butterfly, both being of the order Lepidoptera. Moths form the majority of this order; there are thought to be 150,000 to 250,000 different species of moth , with thousands of species yet to be described...

s in this locality including: the Argent & Sable

Argent and Sable moth

Argent and sable moths or Rheumaptera hastata are day flying moths of the Geometridae family, with distinctive black and white colourings. They tend to live on wetlands and hillsides. The larvae spin together the leaves of their food plants to form their cocoons...

, Common Fan-foot, White-line snout, Waved carpet and Drab looper moth.

Chiddingfold Forest is home to the Bechstein's Bat

Bechstein's Bat

Bechstein's Bat is a species of vesper bat in the Vespertilionidae family.It can be found in the following countries: Austria, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Liechtenstein, Republic of Macedonia,...

. Three maternity colonies have been identified which have at least eighty breeding females.

Fir Tree Copse, which lies within the forest is particularly noted for rare moths, lichen and fungi. The smaller plants include Enchanter’s Nightshade

Circaea

The genus Circaea contains 7-10 species of flowering plants, known as Enchanter's nightshade. They are woodland plants occurring throughout the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Two species are widespread, Broad-leaved Enchanter's Nightshade and Alpine Enchanter's Nightshade...

, Wood Speedwell

Veronica (plant)

Veronica is the largest genus in the flowering plant family Plantaginaceae, with about 500 species; it was formerly classified in the family Scrophulariaceae...

, Lily of the Valley

Lily of the Valley

Convallaria majalis , commonly known as the lily-of-the-valley, is a poisonous woodland flowering plant native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe....

 and wild daffodils.