Pest Guides

If you have house plants, there is a strong chance that you will have seen tiny gnats silently swooping into your eyeline and being a general annoyance around your home. Often confused with fruit flies, these little black insects are known as Fungus Gnats.

There are 250 different breeds of Fungus Gnats in the UK alone, these flying insects are predominantly brown and measure around 3-4mm long. Their larvae are slender and white with a black head and can reach up to 6mm long.

Fungus gnats are attracted to moisture and feed on the rotting matter in compost. Apart from some minor damage to your plant roots they are largely harmless and occur outdoors more than inside, but it is when they are in your home that they can be an annoyance as they will seek out new sources of food

There are over 12,000 species of ant (Formicidae) around the world. Their lifespan varies between species from just a few weeks to several years, typically growing no longer than an inch. The most common one that you’re likely to find in your home or garden is the Black Garden Ant (Lasius niger). Ants live in large groups or colonies, in nests.

A CLASS SYSTEM

Each member of a colony has a specified role. The worker ants have the objective of going out in search for food to bring back to the nest. Foraging leads them into homes, and anywhere they might find traces of edible material. Ants leave behind natural chemical trails to help mark ‘safe’ routes, which is why you often see ants travelling along the same lines.

The queen’s duty is to reproduce and lay eggs, to create enough ants to sustain the colony. Worker ants are infertile

Small birds can be pleasant to watch in the garden and are beneficial in removing insects that may otherwise cause damage. However, they can cause damage, especially when roosting or feeding from newly sown grass or plantings. Pigeons and seagulls are the worst offenders. When roosting, they can break away roofing tiles or guttering, and cause blockages to drainage. Their nests can also encourage infestations of insects.

Pigeon droppings can cause health risks: they are a slip hazard and can lead to the spread of diseases such as e coli and salmonella. When dry, the particles can be become airborne and flare up respiratory problems such as asthma.

Surfaces liable to corrosion can be damaged if they come into contact with bird mess. It’s important to reduce the risk of this in areas where children play, near kitchens, and around commercial areas. Keeping birds away from chimneys can be important:

They’ve hitched rides around the globe, survived off our waste and, in various cultures including Europe’s, provided a food source for hundreds of years. Black rats (Rattus rattus) accompanied us to Europe in around the third century BC and were joined, several centuries later, by brown rats. Both species voyaged with us far beyond Europe, reaching the shores of North America in the 16th and mid-18th centuries. Today, in Europe and America, black rats have been out competed and almost completely replaced by the larger and more aggressive brown rat (Rattus Norvegicus).

No matter how much we like to distance our culture from theirs, we have always had a close relationship; although occasionally hostile!

We’re so well connected, in fact, that they like to live near us. Brown rats (the most common species) are talented burrowers and have been known to force a way into buildings through

Mice are a highly adaptive and invasive species and they’re able to populate a variety of ecosystems. Agricultural fields, buildings, and boats are all viable habitats. In more temperate climates there will be even more possible nest sites. Swimming, climbing, jumping proficiency, and the two incisors on their upper jaw, all make for a formidable predator wherever they reside. However, despite all of these amazing abilities, the house mouse chooses to reside, as its name would indicate, in a home.

House mice (Mus Musculus Domesticus) are highly adaptive members of the genus Mus (mouse), yet for some reason they choose to live in the least demanding environment, a human home. They are attracted by the continuous flow of food and warmth, ideal for nest sites. The offer of food and shelter is so tempting that many choose to stay and breed year-round. With an average of six baby mice per litter and a new litter every 20 to 30 days,

Once dogs became domesticated, their characteristics strayed further and further away from that of their ancestors and, sometime between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago, the domesticated wolf became what we know today as a dog. One major difference between the two is that wolves cannot interpret human behaviour, whereas dogs can. This aspect made them a great ally to humans: they respond to commands, to some degree without question. Fast-forward to 9,000 years ago and we realised the true potential of these obedient canines through selective breeding, creating the most desirable dog for specific jobs such as hunting, pulling loads, tracking, and protection.

DANGERS

Relative to other animals, dogs are an incredibly obedient species; there is ample evidence for this. However, they certainly have the tendency to roll-over to their most atavistic of instincts from time to time. This can be both a danger