Summer roundup
Posted on 12th August 2018 at 10:41
A quick overview of pest control activity in Maidenhead and the surrounding area throughout the summer.
Well its been a long, hot and dry summer – one that for me rivals the summer of ’76 when I was a kid swimming in the Thames at Twyford every day or splashing around in the ford at Lands End. For us as pest controllers we’ve seen a remarkable amount of wasp and hornet activity right across the Maidenhead / Marlow and Bourne End area.
The biggest wasp nest so far was from a house in Hurley; it was an absolute beast of a thing but the photo taken was a bit blurred – probably from the fact that I was wearing no protection as I had just stuck my head into the loft to check on its position (not nerves)!
We don’t charge for additional wasps nests found on a property and the most we found was seven on a house in Pinkneys Green, while the most amount of hornet nests found on a property was two over in Bourne End.
Rat callouts have been very quiet across the whole of Berkshire; we’re just seeing a flurry of callouts this week to internal infestations of rats. The first in Woodley, another in Lower Earley and the last one in Winnersh, whether this is the start to our autumn / winter rat season I don’t know, but generally rat populations throughout Maidenhead and the wider area have been much quieter than normal – maybe they’ve all headed to the beach?
The dry weather has had a detrimental effect on moles and our callouts for mole catching around Maidenhead has been restricted to those properties that either water their lawns or flowerbeds. Twyford and Hurst are the most ‘moley’ area and I would think that a long lasting drought with the ground as hard as concrete will mean that many of the young moles born this year won’t survive.
Of all the pests that I treat, moles are my favourite (if that's the right word?), I get to work in some amazing places which as an ordinary person you wouldn't’t get entrance to. I have worked on the Duke of Wellingtons estate in a derelict walled garden where the ghosts of old formal beds and species of long forgotten apple tree’s were all around.
I have recently carried out mole removal at a house in Hurst that dates back to the mid 1600’s and I love the history that surrounds this area. For centuries King's and Queens have lived here, fought here and left their mark on the towns and villages in the shape of grand old houses, pub names and even the road names that we live on; it’s not called Royal Berkshire for a reason.
Tagged as: Wasps and bee's
Share this post:
