THE BUGBUSTERS
From hordes of hornets to toxic caterpillars, pests can wreak havoc. So, who you gonna call...
THE bubonic plague – also known as The Black Death – wiped out half the population of Europe in the Middle Ages killing more than 25million people.
The disease spread from dying rats and – despite outbreaks now being extremely rare – the tragic role that rats have played in human history makes them one of our most deadly adversaries. This is why we have given the rat a two-out-of-three skull and crossbones score.
The bubonic plague is still around with a herdsman in Kyrgyzstan dying from the disease in 2013.
Fortunately, thanks to antibiotics, outbreaks are now unusual and treatable.
Yet rats can still cause destruction. Nine years ago, an 80-year-old woman died in an explosion in Tyneside after rats ate through her home gas pipes.
One in five homes at some time come under attack from rodents chewing through cables – and the average cost of repair is more than £100. Professional rat catcher Natalie Bruff, 25, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, works for Rentokil in London and believes it is often better to call in experts rather than tackling rodents on your own. She says: ‘You need to know the size and nature of an infestation if you are to tackle it properly. Mice can eat from 60 different spots in a night while rats suffer from neophobia – a fear of anything new or unfamiliar – for at least a week if you are laying down traps or poison.
‘Be aware that barn owls and kestrels can be killed by the poison through the food chain if field voles or harvest mice have eaten it. Many people stop laying poison once it is all gone but you should continue treatment.’
She adds: ‘I love animals but vermin control is essential, especially at this time of year when the weather turns and rodents can enter your home.’
Before calling a vermin control firm, contact your local council as under the Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949 they have a duty to control rats. But they may ask you to call a private firm.
Companies such as Rentokil can charge £200 to get rid of a rat infestation – but this will include multiple visits and not just poisons but traps which include radar boxes where the rodent dies in seconds from carbon dioxide released when inside.
THIS is the largest insect in the wasp family – with the queen reaching up to two inches in length. A sting from a European hornet can lead to more than just a few tears as it packs a punch stronger than a standard wasp and can require hospital treatment.
Hornets are easily distinguished from their smaller cousins because of an oversized trunk that is often bright yellow mottled with patches of brown.
The European is relatively docile but can turn aggressive and sting if provoked.
Unlike the common wasp, a hornet often flies at night as well as day. It nests in tree holes and roof spaces.
Although a hornet colony is likely to be smaller than that of a common wasp, you can still find as many as 1,000 living in one space. They feed on other insects such as grasshoppers, flies and bees.
Recently there have been reports of Asian hornets invading Britain – including the Highgrove Estate in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, owned by Prince Charles. The Asian hornet is more unpleasant than the European variety – the sting is not only extremely painful but has been known to kill.
They are believed to have come over to Europe in a shipment of pottery to France from China in 2004. Since then at least half a dozen people have died after being stung and suffering anaphylactic shock.
Beekeepers are particularly concerned about the arrival of Asian hornets as they can destroy a hive of 30,000 bees in a couple of hours by ripping their heads off.
The Asian hornet can have a dark brown or black body bordered with a yellow band.
If you find one notify the Great British Non Native Species Secretariat through its website nonnativespecies.org.
NOW is the time to go foraging for mushrooms – a hunt where the quarry is later fried with butter and enjoyed on toast.
Flavours from wild mushrooms are mouth-watering compared to the bland-tasting fungi wrapped in cellophane on supermarket shelves. Wild mushrooms are free and knock several pounds off your grocery bill if used in main meals.
Found in woodland and meadows, there are dozens of edible mushrooms from which to choose – including Chanterelle, Oyster,
Parasol, Puffball and Chicken of the Woods. But hidden among them are poisonous mushrooms known as toadstools.
Examples such as Death Cap kill one in five people who eat them – this toadstool accounts for 90 per cent of all deaths by fungi.
Death Cap is found in woodland and grows around oaks in the autumn. It can be recognised from its pale yellow-green cap and sickly rancid smell.
The Star Dapperling is another dangerous toadstool – and mushroom pickers need to be particularly aware of it as it is similar in look to the edible Parasol. Others to avoid include Funeral Bell, Deadly Fibrecap, Deadly Webcap, Brown Roll Rim and False Morel.
The Fly Agaric looks the part of a harmful toadstool – bright red and dappled white, it looks fit for a fairy. But rather than being a killer it can make you feel drunk and nauseous.
Death by fungi is rare but more than 200 people fall ill as a result of being poisoned by toadstools every year. Books such as Mushrooms by John Wright and Mushrooms by Roger Phillips offer excellent guidance.
If you think you might have been poisoned contact your doctor or visit a hospital immediately, taking along any examples of the potentially deadly mushroom you have eaten.
BE WARY of that harmless looking caterpillar wriggling around in your garden as it can cause permanent blindness.
An autumn outbreak of toxic caterpillars in South East England – that will turn into brown-tail moths next spring – can create severe skin rashes and breathing problems if you happen to catch one of the two million barbed hairs on its body. If they get into your eyes, they can cause blindness.
The caterpillars cocoon together in clusters of hundreds on bushes or trees inside a so-called silken tent. The caterpillar is black and hairy with orange dots on its back while the brown-tail moth is white. It costs from £50 to call out professionals to destroy a nest but if you are wearing protective clothing – including face mask and gloves – then it is possible to treat them by burning the toxic cluster.
Pest controller Robert Maples says: ‘If you suspect you have such toxic caterpillars in your garden contact an expert immediately because if a child was to touch them it could cause untold harm. At this time of year they are wrapping themselves up in silken web cocoons – it is an ideal time to get rid of them.’
IT MAY just be a minor irritant in this country, but worldwide the mosquito is responsible for the deaths of 725,000 people a year.
The killer bug malaria comes from a single-celled parasite called a plasmodium. It is picked up by female mosquitos from infected people and passed to others when the mosquito bites someone else to suck their blood to help nurture their eggs. The malaria parasites multiply rapidly in the liver and within a couple of weeks you will feel the effects with fever, headaches, chills and vomiting. Without medicine it destroys red blood cells, stops blood getting to vital organs and can result in death.
Fortunately, malaria is treatable and the disease is not yet being spread by mosquitos in this country – but that does not stop 1,500 holidaymakers returning every year to Britain carrying the disease.
This is why it is vitally important to check whether you should take drugs to tackle malaria when abroad. The NHS Fit For Travel website offers guidance depending on where you are going. There are a variety of drugs that you can take.
Among the cheapest is doxycycline – costing £35 to cover a fortnight abroad. Another is malarone – closer to £70 – while atovaquone with proguanil may cost you £50.
Check with your doctor or local pharmacy on which to take as there can be side effects and you may need to take tablets for a couple of days before you jet off on holiday and for a week after returning.
Travel insurance should cover you if you fall ill from malaria while abroad – but not if you have failed to take the medication.
The last time there was a malaria outbreak in Britain was in the 1950s. There has been an explosion of mosquitos this year due in part to the mild summer and the growing use of water butts in gardens, which attract the insects, whose larvae thrive in still, dirty water.