Providing pest control services in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, London, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Surrey, West Midlands, West Sussex, Wiltshire. Est. 1985.
German Cockroaches are a potential health hazard and can lead to an Environmental Health Officer to close a restaurant to protect the public. The picture below is that of cockroach monitoring traps laid in an Indian restaurant in Reading, Berkshire where PEST UK have a pest control contract. All of PEST UK’s food related contracts …
Like Bumble Bees, Honey Bees have been making a come back in the past few years. The increase has not been as dramatic as the increase in Bumble Bee nests but they have been increasing. This may be down to the increase in people keeping Honey Bees. The way new nests are formed is different …
We have just encountered an area of resistance to the rat poisons Difenacoum and Bromadiolone at a research centre in Compton Berkshire. Although one of the larger ‘local’ pest control companies in the supposedly hot bed of resistance that is Berkshire, at PEST UK we rarely get problems. One of the reasons is that we …
At PEST UK we have done (so far at the time of writing on 30/6/14) 134 wasp nests. Last June we did 163. Our turnover was much higher this year than last year this is due to the increase in Bee and other jobs. We posted a video of Rick Pellen who is PEST UK’s …
PROMPT/BASIS The PROMPT/BASIS organisation ensures that individual members (the individual is the member not the company) have the correct pest control qualification to start with, the minimum requirement for entry into the scheme is the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) Pest Control Certificate, The RSPH/BPCA Level 2 Award or Level 2 Certificate in pest …
The British Pest Control Association The British Pest Control Association or BPCA is a UK trade association for pest control companies. BPCA Accreditation differs from other pest control trade associations (such as the National Pest Technicians Association or npta) in that its members have to be fully trained, insured and abide by the BPCA’s code of …
Buy With Confidence The Buy With Confidence scheme was set up by Local Authorities with the help of Trading Standards. As yet the scheme does not cover the whole of the UK and the areas are based on Local Authority areas and currently most areas covered by the scheme are in London and the southern …
During the late 90’s and early 2000’s Bumble Bees were in decline. In the past three years pest control companies have been dealing with an increasing (this year was a record for Bumble Bees at PEST UK) number of Bumble Bee enquiries. I believe that this is due to the White Tailed Bumble Bee filling …
Today (28/5/14) Mel carried out a Bed Bug treatment in a multi occupancy house in the centre of Reading for a Lettings agency. The preparation prior to a bed bug treatment is vitally important: clothes have to be removed from the bedrooms, washed or briefly tumble dried before going back into the treated room(s) while …
Bees Swarm On Aeroplane: Yesterday Mel was called out to Tag at Farnborough airport to deal with a Honey Bee swarm on a plane. As can be seen by the picture this was an exceptionally large swarm. Mel contacted a bee keeper (pictured) who took the swarm away. Unfortunately he left several hundred worker bees …
Wasp Nest Removal & Treatment: We have just started doing ‘proper’ wasp nest treatments. I mean proper nests that are live and established as opposed to removing old wasp nests, just treating Queen Wasps emerging from hibernation or one of the types of bees (usually Mason, Mining, Honey or Bumble Bees), many call outs that …
Recently I treated a mouse infestation at a house near Guildford in Surrey. The Lady was clearly alarmed by the mice, although it was not until I actually looked around the house that she realised quite how many mice were in fact present! After I showed the lady the problems, she still seemed quite concerned, …
Ant Infestations: This past month have been our busiest April ever at PEST UK. Ants, especially in the latter part of the month have been the pest that has increased the most. As ants come out of hibernation they will forage inside as it is warmer. They may come out of hibernation early if the …
Oak Processionary Moth Threat in Pangbourne: The Oak Processionary Moth is a pest on Oak Trees. They have been reported recently in the following areas: West and South-West London, the Bromley/Croydon area of South London, and the Pangbourne area of Berkshire. Normally their range is restricted to Southern Europe but they have been spreading northwards. …
Due to the recent warm weather at PEST UK we are getting dozens of calls about wasps. The main feature of these calls are people saying they have Wasps, Hornets, Bees, Queen Bees or Bees coming out of their lofts. Customers even find these (they are in fact usually Queens) then look in the loft, …
Rick Null of PEST UK has a pest control contract at a large garage in Newbury, Berkshire. A customer bought their Honda car in for repair. Mice had got into the car and chewed the wiring causing an incredible £8000.00 of damage. The car had been stored in a shed. The owners of the car …
Mutant Rats: So says the front page of the Daily Star. This follows a ‘story’ of a 16 inch rat that supposedly chewed it’s way into a family home in Sweden. There is a picture of a large rat caught in a rat trap. The caption reads: The giant rat was caught in a big …
In the Spring most pest controllers are keeping an eye on the weather. Long periods of wet, cold and windy weather lead to the two biggest earners in pest control (Bees and Wasps) being decimated. At present we are seeing a lot of Queen Bumble Bees flying about. These are the first to emerge from …
Birds are learning that Solar Panels are a nice place to roost, nest and shelter. PEST UK are receiving an increasing number of calls relating to pigeons, starlings and seagulls under solar panels. We now have access to a newly designed bird spike that has been designed specifically for use with solar panels. This is …
Ladybirds Infestations: These are a pest that 5 years ago we would have no enquiries or jobs for. Now they are a more common occurrence than a pest with similar behaviour, the Cluster Fly. Although one is a fly and the other a member of the beetle family, their nuisance value to humans is the …
Rats, Mice & Flooding: The recent spate of storms and flooding has taken its toll not just on humans! Small animals, including rats, mice and squirrels have had their homes destroyed and are also looking for safe dry places to live.They also have been pushed out of there homes. Rat and mouse infestations in and …
Ants, Pests & Flooding: Most of the pests we deal with are not affected by the recent flooding. The main pests that we deal with at PEST UK that will be effected are will be rats and mice. They can swim ad flooding may encourage them to move into buildings and as long as the …
What is Weil’s Disease? Leptospirosis, also known as Weil’s Disease, is a potentially fatal waterborne disease which is found in stagnant water after floods. Weil’s Disease is caused by bacteria found in the urine of rodents, cattle and pigs. It is also referred to as mud fever, swamp fever, swineherd’s disease and sewerman’s flu. Humans …
Wasps & Hibernation: Mel (she is our only lady pest control technician) got us to write to one of her customers, she had told them verbally and written on the pest control report (that we leave with every contract customer) but she was so concerned about this issue that she wanted a letter as well. …
Ladybirds & CRB checks: At PEST UK we have had a busy start to February 2014. As well as an increase in rat and mouse enquiries we are due to start a substantial pigeon netting installation in Wokingham, Berkshire. Nick Browning of PEST UK has taken pictures of hibernating Ladybirds in a loft space. These …
Squirrels & Queen Wasps: We had a difficult situation today. Yesterday we set fen traps and poison in the loft of a block of flats for a Housing Association in Caversham, Reading, Berkshire for a reported squirrel problem. Late last night a squirrel was caught in one of the fen traps. It was not ‘miss …
Rabbit Gassing & Wasps: Yesterday we did a quote for Rabbit Gassing. Fifteen years ago a high percentage of our time in the Winter and Spring was spent gassing rabbits. Not any more this work has become quite rare. I don’t really understand this, there seem to be as may rabbits around although this does …
Ants Nest Problems? At PEST UK call outs and enquiries for ants mainly happen in the Spring but when the weather is very mild Ant cal outs may start in late January. The actual number of Ant callouts and enquiries has diminished over the past five years. This may be that the Ants themselves are …
Women in Pest Control by Jim Dunn of PEST UK: I was slightly taken aback when I found out that my new work colleague Mel was actually a woman, not a man, as it got me thinking that we are in fact a very male dominated profession. Back when I started in the business in …
Pest Control December & January: December and early January are traditionally a slow months for pest control companies. Rat and mouse enquiries normally tend to increase in January but this hasn’t happened yet. There may be several reasons. The first is probably that it hasn’t been particular cold so rats or mice haven’t needed to …
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