Pest Control in Ebbw Vale

Ebbw Vale stretches along the narrow valley of the Ebbw Fach at the top of the South Wales Valleys, a town shaped entirely by the steelworks that dominated the valley floor for over two hundred years. The works are gone now, replaced by The Works retail and leisure development, but the town's layout is still defined by that history. Terraced houses climb the valley sides at Newchurch, Rassau, Hilltop and Beaufort and these tightly packed rows share drainage and back lanes that create ideal conditions for rats to travel between properties. The ageing drainage beneath these streets is one of the main reasons rat problems recur here.

The valley floor has been transformed, but the river still runs through and the streams that feed it come down from the hillsides through the housing areas. Rats follow these watercourses and properties near the streams and on the lower streets closest to the valley bottom tend to see the most activity. Higher up the valley sides, mice are the more common problem. The older terraces have stone walls that develop gaps over time and mice get in through these openings as well as through vents, around pipe work and through any crack wider than a pencil. The rough grassland and scrub that covers the old tips and reclaimed land above the town supports field mice that move into houses in the colder months.

The exposed position of Ebbw Vale at the head of the valley means the weather can be harsh and that drives pests indoors earlier in the autumn than in the lowland towns. Wasp nests are found throughout the town each summer in roof spaces, stone walls and outbuildings. The Festival Park area at the top of the town and the green spaces created on the former steelworks land have brought new habitats into the valley and the wildlife that has colonised these areas sometimes brings pest issues to nearby properties.