Bentley Environmental

21/12/2024

We’ve had a great year of delivering professional pest management services to our existing and new customers. We’re looking forward to an even better year in 2025!
Thank you for your business and trust in our services.

We are now taking some time off and will be back to business as usual from Monday 6th January.

We wish all of our customers a wonderful Christmas and New Year! 🎄 🥳 🍾

12/05/2024

I’m taking some well earned time (although only a short break) away from my work and the world of pest management.

It’s probably the same for the majority, whenever you step away from work, thats when you’re usually needed the most!
But unfortunately I won’t be able to deal with any pest related issues until I return on the 20th May 😎

Thank you to all my customers for your understanding 👋🏻

Best, George
Bentley Environmental

15/09/2023

Hey there!

I’ve added this short video as we’ve recently had an increase in calls about Mining Bees appearing in customers gardens 🌾🐝

Hopefully it covers a few of the frequently asked questions we often receive and it may help to spread some awareness about them.

Thanks! George.

18/01/2023

A recent customer had been hearing noises for a couple of weeks above them in the loft.
They got in touch with us and we called out to survey the property🕵🏻‍♂️

It turned out to be grey squirrels that had found some gaps in the soffits and made there way into the loft. They visited the loft nearly everyday for a few hours.

You can see in the picture that squirrels like to chew on the timber rafters and keep their teeth in good order! In fact the squirrels have caused enough damage that some of the rafters and joists now need attention/repairs to make sure they’re safe 🪚🔨

If you ever think there might be something in your loft such as squirrels, rats or mice. Then it’s best to get a professional pest control company, like ourselves, out to investigate and carry out the necessary treatments.

If left unchecked the damage here could have been quite severe! Rodents will also chew through electrical cables in loft areas which can be costly getting repaired, not to mention cause a fire risk ⚡️🔥

If you need help getting rid of squirrels at your home or business, we’d be happy to help.

You can follow the link below for further information or to book an appointment with a pest professional.

https://bentleyenvironmental.co.uk/squirrel-control/

30/09/2022

There will almost certainly be more frequent sightings of the Asian hornet within the UK in the years to come.

While the Asian hornet poses no greater risk to human health than other wasps or hornets, the damage they can cause to honey bee colonies and other beneficial insects can be detrimental.

There is a list of how to identify the asian hornets to help if you think you spot one which I’ve copied below.

*How to identify the Asian hornet*

• They have dark brown or black velvety bodies, with a dark abdomen and yellow-tipped
legs, according to nonnativespecies.org.

• The Asian hornet's abdomen is almost entirely dark, apart from the fourth segment - whereas the smaller European hornet's body is predominantly yellow.

• Its head appears dark from above and orange from front, with dark-coloured antennae and an entirely black thorax.

• The worker hornet's body is around 30mm long, while the queen's is 25mm.

•The hornets usually nest high in trees and man-made structures, but can sometimes be found closer to the ground. They are never active at night.

• They hunt honey bees, other insects and also feeds on fruit.

For further info, click through to the article.

https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2022-09-28/warning-after-asian-hornet-spotted-in-uk

The invasive species is a predator to the native honey bee, and can devastate entire colonies. | ITV News Anglia

20/07/2022

Here’s a short video on a wasp nest I attended and treated.
I turn up to quite a few jobs each year with this same scenario.

Often when talking to customers and mentioning that wasps can remove plasterboard, insulation, wood and even brick they are, quite rightly, surprised to hear it.

This video shows an example of wasps carrying out this process. They’d removed some of the celotex insulation and only just really started to get stuck into the plasterboard. If left they would eventually take quite a decent chunk out to make way for nest expansion.

Click for more info ⬇️

https://bentleyenvironmental.co.uk/wasp-nest-treatments/

15/06/2022

Squirrel Fact: 🐿 🌳

Did you know that Grey Squirrels carry out bark stripping on trees?

They strip the bark away from the tree to get to the nutritious sap underneath.

In most cases established trees will not die if the damage isn’t too substantial and the tree then still cared for after. But the damage will scar and this leaves them vulnerable to other insect pests and disease, which is likely to lead to the death of the tree.

Younger trees are more vulnerable to this form of attack as the bark is easier to remove.
Once the tree is ring-barked (the bark is removed all the way round the trunk) it will inevitably die. Trees between the ages of ten and fifty years are the most at risk.
There are few tree species that do not suffer damage by grey squirrels.

When bark stripping occurs in a commercial scenario, in one site alone this can cause tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage!
Managing local squirrel populations then becomes essential work.

Highlighted in a report commissioned by several signatory organisations of the UK Squirrel Accord (“Analysis of the Costs of Grey Squirrel Damage”, 2021), over the next 40 years Grey Squirrels will cost the economy an estimated minimum £1.1 billion in damaged timber, lost carbon capture, and tree replacements.

18/05/2022

It’s around this time every year I start to get contacted by customers reporting wasp activity.
Wasp nests will still be very small at the moment and low numbers, so spotting them or noticing activity isn’t always easy.

The jobs I have attended have so far turned out to be Bumblebees of Honeybees. Both of these species I DO NOT TREAT.

Honeybees will require either a Beekeeper if they are in a swarm and easily accessible, or a company that specialise in extraction of Honeybees.

Here’s a useful link for help with Honeybees
https://www.ukbr.org

Bumblebee nests aren’t particularly big and won’t usually cause any structural damage if they’re nesting within a property. They also only last a few months. Nearly all species of Bumblebee aren’t aggressive and the nest size is a lot lower in numbers compared to Wasps and Honeybees. I will advise customers to just leave them Bee 🐝….. (sorry) 🤓

I always advise customers to look at the comparison image on my website or to try and identify the species if possible before I am asked to visit.

You can use binoculars if they’re high up on a property, there’s also lots of images on the internet that can help you get a better idea of the species that have chosen your property to nest.

Feel free to get in touch if you need any help with Wasps this season.

https://bentleyenvironmental.co.uk/contact-us/

28/04/2022

With a rise in properties having air source heat pumps installed, we have found on numerous occasions that rodents, typically rats, will chew through the soft insulation around the pipework entering brickwork.

We received calls of noises within the walls and loft area of this property and quickly found the entry point the rats were using upon our intial survey.
We evicted the rats! And then the entry point was sealed off.

*The insulation around the heating pipe will be renewed in due course by the heat pump service technician.

If you’re suffering with a rodent issue be it rats, mice or squirrels. Get in touch with us by the link below 👇🏻

https://bentleyenvironmental.co.uk/pest-control/rodent-control/

06/06/2021

A good article from 2019. Highlights some of the difficulties in controlling Clothes Moths.

They destroy sweaters, carpets and even wall insulation – and their population has tripled in five years. But there are ways to quell these insatiable insects