Pest Control in Ottershaw

About Pest UK

• pubs, restaurants and hotels
• school, college and university buildings
• farms and stables
• offices
• factories
• housing estates and apartment buildings
• shops

Pest problems we deal with

Mice and rats are prolific breeders year-round. The seek food and shelter in homes, restaurants, shops and offices, getting inside via the tiniest cracks or holes. Drains provide a perfect living environment for rats and they climb up through the pipes to enter a building.

Flies and cockroaches enter homes and business premises during the spring and summer in search of food. They are prolific breeders so an invasion of a couple of these pests soon becomes a huge infestation.

Bed bugs are very difficult to get rid of. People bring them into homes, offices and public places on their clothes or in their luggage. They can also be hidden in furnishings and clothing imported from abroad.

Fleas are brought inside by cats and dogs, and occasionally by humans on their clothes. They live in carpets and only move from the carpet to feed on animals or humans, leaving an itchy bite.

The larvae of clothes moths and carpet moths are massively destructive. A female moth lays up to 50 eggs which become larvae after a few days. They feed on wool and silk carpets, curtains, rugs and clothes. They are a problem year-round as centrally heated homes keep them active during the winter.

Birds such as gulls, pigeons and house martins roost and nest on buildings. They cause damage to roofs, solar panels and air conditioning units. Nesting materials block guttering and chimneys. They produce large amounts of droppings that smell unpleasant and are unsightly, carry diseases and corrode metals, stone and brick.

Solar panel proofing is a long-term solution to prevent pigeons roosting and nesting under the panels, preventing them causing damage that reduces their effectiveness.

Rodent proofing prevents rats, mice, squirrels, glis glis accessing a building. Ultimately it saves costs by stopping repeated call outs to pest control technicians to get rid of infestations.

Squirrels and glis glis find their way into loft spaces and cause lots of noise and damage by tearing up insulation and gnawing timber, pipes and wiring.

Wasps and honey bees often nest in chimneys, roof spaces and other cavities within buildings. Colonies can consist of thousands which are very noisy and if they’re disturbed they will sting.

Ants usually live in nests in the ground. They only invade properties in search of food, but they mostly travel in large numbers. Prevention is the best cure but because they can access a property via a tiny crack it is difficult to find how they’ve gained access.

Foxes are noisy and scream loudly at night, mark their territory with unpleasant scents and droppings, attack pets, dig up gardens and scavenge in bins. They carry disease such as mange which can be picked up by dogs and toxoplasmosis that causes blindness in children.

Ladybirds collect in huge numbers in the autumn to hibernate. They are a nuisance as there are so many of them and they secrete a yellow chemical which can stain walls, furniture and window frames

Rabbits cause damage to lawns and plants. It is a legal obligation that every occupier of land takes responsibility to prevent rabbits from causing damage.

Molehills usually appear in early winter and spring. This is when moles dig temporary shallow tunnels just below the surface of lawns and flowerbeds whilst searching for earthworms. They push up displaced soil in vertical tunnels which form the molehills.

About Ottershaw

Ottershaw is a village in the Runnymede district of Surrey, about 20 miles south-west of London. It is close to Addlestone, Chertsey, West Byfleet and Sheerwater. The entire Ottershaw area was originally heathland in Chertsey Common which was part of Windsor Forest. The payment of tithes was to the manor of Chertsey Beomond as a result of a dispute in the 13th century between the Abbot of Chertsey Abbey and Rector of Walton on Thames that went all the way to the Pope in Rome.

During the 16th century small farms were established – Brox, Bousley, Potters Park and Spratts. These remained as farms until the 19th century when they became nurseries supplying vegetables and cut flowers to London. Anningsley and Ottershaw were originally farms rebuilt as country houses and parks in the 16th and 17th centuries.

It was not until 1864 that the hamlets of Chertsey Lane End, Brox and Spratts joined to become the village with the name Ottershaw, derived from the estate of that name. The small daub/stone labourers’ cottages in the hamlets had had to be rebuilt frequently, hence there are few truly old buildings in the village. More dwellings were built after the village was established. Sir Thomas Edward Colebrooke, who bought Ottershaw Park in 1859, provided sufficient land from his estate for a church, churchyard and vicarage. He paid all the construction costs and endowed the church with £100 per year. The church was consecrated in 1864 as Christ Church; its architect was Sir Gilbert Scott.

After World War 2, O1ttershaw experienced steady growth with modern houses being built along the roads and on the former nursery land. Today it is a mixture of London commuter belt and a retirement settlement.

In the book The War of the Worlds by H G Wells, the fictional narrator is invited to an observatory in Ottershaw.

Foxhills Golf Club is on the more rural western side of the area. Set in 400-acres it is now an award-winning country club with two 18-hole Championship courses and a nine-hole course as well as woodland trails. It has expanded to offer over 200 diverse activities and is considered a family-friendly leisure destination. It was built in the 1780s for a politician, Charles James Fox, and his mistress and former courtesan Elizabeth Armistead. It was turned into a golf club in 1975 by its then owners, Aer Lingus. It was further developed into a country club in 1983 when it was sold to Pam and Ian Hayton.

For more information about Ottershaw see www,chertseymuseum.org/ottershaw