Susan Jefferson

Summer pests can be, well... a real pest. No sooner have you opened the windows to enjoy the warm summer air before a bevy of winged insects descend on your kitchen. Wasps, flies and fruits flies all love the tastes of summer, or perhaps that should more specifically be, they love all the rapidly decaying fruit and vegetables. While the idea of al fresco dining is what summer evenings are all about, flies and wasps can turn a pleasurable experience into a fly-swatting nightmare. The kids scream as wasps hover dangerously close to their apple juice while you turn back to discover a fly happily sitting on your burger. Not a recipe for the most relaxing evening. And that is only outside. Wasps and flies will, of course, also make their ways indoors to continue terrifying children and exercising squatters’ rights on any rogue crumbs or leftover sandwiches that happen to have been left on the side for a nano-second. Then there are fruit flies. Lured in by the rapid ripening of fruit in...

Bed bugs are the sort of pest that might not cross your mind unless you are travelling around the world, but rather than being a thing of the past bed bugs are actually increasing in the UK and becoming a real pest control problem. While bed bugs were once a common pest problem in the UK, they had largely been eliminated from homes, but an increase in travel has seen a fairly rapid rise in reports of local infestations in Birmingham , Manchester , London , Bristol and across many parts of the UK. How to spot a bed bug Despite their name, you can actually find bed bugs pretty much anywhere. It is common to find bed bugs on mattresses, bedding and furniture but they can also be found in fittings and personal items, such as suitcases and children’s toys. However, it is their habit of feeding on the blood of people as they sleep that has earned them the name ‘bed bugs’. Seeing the human body as a food source they will take blood as people sleep in bed, leaving small bite marks where ...