Pest Control in Wantage

Wantage is a market town sitting in the Vale of White Horse, just below the chalk ridge of the Berkshire Downs. The town is the birthplace of King Alfred the Great and the centre around the Market Place has a good collection of older brick and stone buildings. These properties have the pest vulnerabilities that come with age: worn mortar joints, gaps around old window and door frames and spaces where modern plumbing and wiring have been run through old walls. Mice are a constant issue in the town centre, getting into shops, restaurants and the flats above through these small openings and nesting in the hidden spaces within the older buildings.

The Letcombe Brook flows through the western side of Wantage and the watercress beds and gardens along its banks create a green corridor that rats follow into the town. The brook is an important chalk stream and its clear water and lush bankside vegetation are ecologically valuable, but the cover they provide also supports a healthy rat population. Properties along Mill Street and the streets near the brook see the most rat activity and the allotments and garden boundaries along the watercourse provide food and shelter.

The housing estates at Grove, Charlton Heights and the newer developments spreading west have brought modern construction with cavity walls and air bricks that give mice access to the wall spaces. The Downs above Wantage are open chalk grassland that supports field mice and voles and these animals come down from the ridge into the town when the weather turns cold. Wasp nests are common across Wantage through summer and the warm brick walls of the older town centre buildings are attractive nesting spots. The farmland on all sides of the town means rodent pressure from the surrounding land is always a factor.