Top 3 Spring Insect Pests
Top 3 spring insect pests – now that Spring has arrived and the temperatures continue to rise, insects will start to become active. Some insects cause problems all-year round in our homes and businesses. This article will look specifically at the main seasonal main pest culprits that can cause irritation, fear and even illness to people suffering from these insect infestations.
The No 1 insect that causes us problems from late spring to autumn is the wasp. The communal wasps, of which there are a number of species, produce worker wasps that are armed with a sting. They use this as a defence mechanism that they will use if they feel the nest is under threat and unfortunately they will perceive you as a threat if you approach or inadvertently disturb their nest. The life-cycle starts in Springtime when the queen wasps awakes from hibernation and feeds herself up in preparation for nest building. She will make a small paper nest about the size of a golf ball that she will lay her eggs in. This nest can be found suspended in lofts, garages, outbuildings, trees and bushes. Often though the nests are concealed in the wall cavities or behind soffits. The eggs hatch into worker wasps (sterile females) that take over nest construction, foraging, brood tending and defence. The queens only job thereafter is to lay eggs. The nest will quickly proliferate until it reaches optimum size in late Summer. At this point the queen produces male and female wasps. These females will, after Winter hibernation, become the following years queens.
The No 2 insect that causes us problems mainly in the warmer months is the garden ant. They belong to the same order of insects as wasps (Hymenoptera) and have a similar life-cycle. These are the foraging experts of the insect world. The worker ants will leave pheromone trails when it returns to the nest with a tasty morsel which will then be the cue for all its siblings to return to the food source and help themselves. The problems arise when that source happens to be in your kitchen, lounge, conservatory or patio. They are well known for being attracted to sweet substances such as sugar based items but also feed on protein rich foods dependent on what the nest requires. Just as in the wasps the ants produce males and females during summer months. This is when thousands of winged males and females leave the nest en masse and is known as swarming. This can be annoying if this is outside but can be quite scary if this happens inside the home. We have been to jobs where the windows were nearly fully obscured by swarming ants.
The No 3 insect pest that causes issues during the Springtime are the cluster flies. There are a number of fly species in this category that choose a particular building in Autumn to hibernate over Winter and then wake up in Spring to carry on their life cycle by exiting their place of hibernation. These hibernation sites can be used year after year or sometimes a new site is chosen. If their site of choice is your home then this can cause issues with flies, in their thousands sometimes, finding their way into your living space and causing weeks of annoyance.
Many other insect species also cause year-round problems but as the temperature increases the top 3 insect species associated with warmer weather are the WASP, ANT and CLUSTER FLY
Top 3 spring insect pests – call Kestrel Pest Management on 01302 728078 or 07578 177410 for Wasp Control, Ant Control and Cluster Fly Control
