August 31st, 2009
The recent warm and settled weather has produced a number of call outs for ants and fleas, both in the Penrith and Clitheroe area. Treatments for both fleas and ants can be quite difficult sometimes due to their habitats so they can be difficult to eradicate.
Despite the difficulties, however, we do succeed on all occasions. Recently, there was a case of bird fleas caused by birds nesting in the eaves of a house.
In the Penrith, Carlisle, Clitheroe, Skipton and Blackburn areas we have already treated a number of wasps nests which have had a lot of activity with the wasps coming and going, even at this early stage of the summer. This will, no doubt, be due to the good conditions we had in April which got the wasps nests off to a good start.
Mole trapping has recently come to an end but it has been more effective than ever this year, particularly on farms where numbers were increased this winter due to the wet summer followed by the poor winter weather.
Tags: ants, bird fleas, blackburn, clitheroe, fleas, mole trapping, penrith, Pest Control, skipton
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May 18th, 2009
This picture was taken recently when we were called to carry out mouse control at a house in the skipton area. Somehow the mouse had died behind the switch which the owners detected by the nasty smell. Has anyone else seen anything like this?
Tags: mice, mouse, mouse exterminator, mouse traps, rat catcher, rats
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May 14th, 2009
Assured Environmental Services have recently finished their rabbit control work for the Yorkshire Dales National Park, in conjunction with the Limestone Country Project. Regular reporting and feedback was required to assess where the rabbits were caught, the numbers being caught and also the methods being used, which involved traditional approaches, such as trapping, shooting and ferreting or gassing.
The Yorkshire Dales National Park, Limestone Country Project, are expecting individual landowners to take up their own rabbit control, if they didn’t have it already.
Assured Environmental Services have also recently completed project work, controlling rabbits for Natural England at their Moorhouse-Upper Teesdale Reserve, which they started four years ago. An initial consultation was carried out, whereby Assured Environmental Services helped to advise on rabbit management techniques, which would be suitable for the sensitive nature of the site,Teesdale, on which the rare Sugar Limestone can be found.
This has led to Natural England doing their own box trapping, and the keepers on the surrounding areas of moorland, carrying out lamping of the rabbits. Assured Environmental Services have carried out gassing around the Sugar Limestone and surrounding habitats so as to keep control of rabbits around the area.
Alistair McEntyre, from Assured Environmental Services, says “A lot of our rabbit control is interlinked with other wildlife and habitat management projects, using traditional methods and also gassing A varied approach is best for rabbit control and each individual situation needs a detailed plan, suitable for each particular piece of ground”.
Tags: pest control yorkshire, pests cumbria, rabbit control, yorkshire
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May 13th, 2009
Alistair McEntyre from Assured Environmental Services, has noticed a significant drop in the number of requests for fly screening throughout the damp summer. Alistair says “Mainly, at this time of year, we have a lot of requests for the straight forward hinge screen, with turn buttons, to keep it in place, covered in stainless steel mesh. This keeps flies, wasps, bees and other flying insects out. Also, the demand for aluminium, chain screens, single action fly screen doors, strip curtain mesh fly screens hasn’t been as high as in previous years. They all provide adequate screening for regular thoroughfares, in and out of kitchens, hotels, bakeries, even domestic houses”
Assured Environmental Services have not seen the number of sales of electric fly killer machines dropping, despite the wet summer.
Tags: bees, flyscreen, insects, lancashire, wasps
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May 9th, 2009
The very wet summer throughout most of the country has resulted in a lot of crops proving difficult to harvest, as machines can’t get onto the ground and the crops are also unsuitably ripe, or dry to harvest.
Alistair McEntyre, at Assured Environmental Services says “This will suit rats and mice down to the ground. To date, we have already had double the number of enquiries for problems on farms, mainly with rats, than we would normally have had at this time of year. We feel sure it is to do with more and more Whole Crop being grown within the area, as it is good dairying practice. This has increased the rat population in the area, as they have food in the fields all summer, which wasn’t normal for the Lancashire area.
Alistair mentions that Assured Environmental Services consistently deal with problems at farms in the Penrith area, where their second depot is based, and had always put this down to the dry soil and the fact that barley is commonly grown in the area, used for barley beef etc. Rat numbers around the Penrith area, however, have also increased, which they attribute to the crops still being on the fields and water being readily available all year, as rats have to drink at least once a day.
Alistair says, “Farms can be overrun suddenly, in the short space of a week, so our free, emergency call out for any problems with rats in between the scheduled visits, means that farmers can be safe in the knowledge that, not only will we be on site quickly, but it will also cost them no extra money to control however many rats may descend on them”.
Tags: farms, mice, pests, rat catcher, rats, rodents, vermin
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May 5th, 2009
Alistair McEntyre from Assured Environmental Services (Lancashire) is expecting mole population numbers to be high this winter, due to the wet summer providing ideal conditions for the worms, and sometimes slugs, on which moles feed. Dry weather obviously reduces the number of worms on which the moles can sustain themselves during the summer months, and this is reflected in mole numbers being down the following winter, which will not be the case this year.
Assured Environmental Services are expecting a large demand for their trapping services for moles on farms. Over the past two years, this has become a major method of control of moles on farms, since the withdrawal of Strychnine. Their trapping team trap up to 1000 moles per farm in a season.
Alistair, Managing Director of Assured Environmental Services, says “We prefer to use traps, as the number caught is then evident when we produce the dead moles after each visit, which we usually leave on site. Trapping is a far more certain method than gassing, where there can be uncertainty as to whether the moles are being controlled. When you are seen removing moles from traps, it is obvious you are doing an effective job”.
Tags: mole catcher, mole control, mole trapping, mole traps, moles, moles on farms, moles pest, slugs, worms
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