Pest Control in Didcot

Didcot has transformed from a railway junction town into one of the fastest growing places in Oxfordshire, with enormous new housing developments at Great Western Park and Ladygrove joining the older parts of town. The original streets around Broadway and the station have Victorian and Edwardian housing with the shared drainage and terraced layouts that make rat problems hard to contain. The railway itself is a major feature of the town and the embankments, sidings and land around Didcot Parkway station provide cover and food for rats. The old engine sheds at the Didcot Railway Centre are a heritage attraction but the buildings and yard areas around the tracks also support rodent activity.

The new housing estates are built on what was recently farmland and as with any large-scale building project the disruption pushes rats and field mice toward existing properties and into the new houses themselves. Mouse problems are common on these newer developments, with mice entering through the standard weak points of air bricks, pipe entries and gaps around service connections. The estates are still settling, with landscaping maturing and boundaries between properties being established and it takes time for all the small openings in new-build homes to be identified and sealed.

Didcot sits on the flat ground of the Thames vale and the farmland to the south and west supports large numbers of rodents that move closer to the town after harvest. The Hagbourne Brook and the drainage ditches that cross the flat ground provide routes for rats into the residential areas. The town centre around the Orchard Centre shopping development and the food outlets along Broadway generate waste that needs careful management. Wasp nests are found across both the older streets and the new estates through summer, with the warm south-facing walls of houses being favourite spots for nesting.