Pest Control in Houghton Le Spring

Houghton le Spring is a former mining town between Durham and Sunderland, sitting on higher ground above the Wear valley. The town centre around the market area and Newbottle Street has a solid character, with stone and brick Victorian buildings mixed in with more modern development. Around the edges, the colliery villages of Hetton-le-Hole, Fence Houses and Newbottle have merged with Houghton to create a sprawling built-up area. The terraced housing that was built for mining families in the nineteenth and early twentieth century still forms a large part of the town's fabric and these rows of houses have the shared cavity walls and connected roof structures that mice move through freely. Mouse control is one of our most common services across Houghton le Spring and the terraced streets see the highest number of calls.

The streams and drainage channels that run through the area, including the Herrington Burn and the watercourses draining the former pit sites, provide routes for brown rats moving between the open countryside and the residential areas. Rat activity is common along these waterway corridors and around the rough ground and overgrown former colliery sites that dot the landscape. As these sites have been reclaimed and turned into parkland and housing, the disruption has pushed rats into surrounding streets.

The surrounding farmland and the green spaces that thread through the built-up area, including Herrington Country Park and the Burn Valley, support a range of pest activity. Wasp nests turn up in roof voids, garden sheds and outbuildings right through the summer months. Wasp removal is a regular part of our work here from June to September. Our technicians cover Houghton le Spring and all the surrounding villages and we understand the post-industrial landscape and how it shapes the pest control challenges across this part of County Durham.