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Has there been an increase in pests during lockdown?
Has there been an increase in pests during lockdown? During lockdown number one, the summer lockdown there was an early start to the wasp season. Not because there were any more wasps than usual but because nests were noticed sooner than they would have been during a "normal summer".
Wasp season usually kicks in at the start of the school holidays. Wasps nest are active before this but the start of the school holidays is when children and parents spend more time in the garden this is when I see a rapid increase in call outs for wasp nest removal treatments. This year I had a spike in calls from right at the beginning of the season as everyone was sat in the garden.
I also noted an increase in call for rats in gardens during this time period. Not because of an increase in rat numbers but because of an increase in sightings as people spent more time at home.
Now we are in the second lockdown and I am again seeing an increase in call outs for garden pests and as the colder weather is here the most common pest I am dealing with is rats. During the first lockdown many households spent time and lots of money improving their gardens, this often involved installing a nice new bird feeder so they can enjoy the visiting wild birds. Now we are in November its not just the wild birds making the most of the free food.
Check out my post on rats and bird feeders
Always check that your pest controller if fully qualified. The BPCA find a pest controller web page is probably the best place to start