The pests we see most, explained.

Beetles

Ground beetles: what's crawling into your home?

A black beetle on the kitchen floor in the morning is almost always a ground beetle that wandered in overnight. Harmless, and usually fixed with a draught strip.

4 min read→ Birds

Trouble in the eaves: dealing with starlings nesting in your home

Starlings return to the same gap in the eaves year after year. The law protects an active nest, so timing matters: wait for the young to leave, then close the gap.

4 min read→ Woodlice

Woodlice in the house: causes, signs and fixes

Woodlice are harmless, but a steady trickle of them indoors is a reliable sign of damp somewhere nearby. Fix the moisture and the woodlice stop.

3 min read→ Mites

Mould mites unmasked: causes, solutions and prevention

Tiny pale specks moving across a damp windowsill or shelf are usually mould mites. They live on mould, so the cure is drying the room out.

3 min read→ Slugs

Moisture seekers: how slugs find their way into UK homes

Slugs can get through gaps you would not think possible, and they climb. Here is how they get in, how they reach upstairs bathrooms, and how to find the route.

3 min read→ Slugs

Slimy intruders: how to manage indoor slugs safely

How to deal with slugs indoors without putting pets or children at risk, and why salt, beer traps and pellets do not belong in the house.

3 min read→ Rats and mice

Mice in the loft? How to spot them, and stop them

Light scratching overhead after dark, small droppings by the insulation. How to confirm it is mice, how they are getting in, and how to stop it for good.

3 min read→ Slugs

Slugs in the home: causes and long-term fixes

Slugs that keep coming back are telling you something about damp, drainage or a gap at ground level. Fix that and they stop.

3 min read→ Carpet beetles

Un-snug the bug in your rug: detecting and preventing carpet beetles

Small holes along a seam, bare patches at the edge of a rug, tiny hairy larvae on the skirting. Carpet beetles are common, and most of the fix is thorough cleaning.

3 min read→ Rats and mice

The British mice identification guide

Britain has several kinds of mouse, but only a couple cause trouble indoors. How to tell a house mouse from a wood mouse, and why it changes what you do next.

3 min read→ Rats and mice

Smells like trouble: dealing with dead rodents

A sour, sickly smell that moves from room to room is often a dead rodent in a wall or under a floor. How long it lasts, and how to deal with it safely.

3 min read→ Rats and mice

The big clean-up: making your home sanitary after a rodent infestation

Once the rats or mice have gone, the clean-up matters. Never sweep or vacuum droppings. A safe, step-by-step guide to making your home sanitary again.

2 min read→ Wasps and hornets

Emerging queen wasps and early nests: what you need to know

Every wasp nest starts with one queen and a nest the size of a golf ball. Spring is when they are smallest, easiest to find and simplest to deal with.

3 min read→ Rats and mice

Rats in your loft? Here's what you need to know

Heavy scratching overhead at night, large droppings and greasy marks on the joists. The signs of rats in the loft, how they get in and what to do.

3 min read→ Wasps and hornets

Don't stir up a hornet's nest: your guide to the European hornet

The European hornet looks alarming and is calmer than a common wasp unless its nest is disturbed. How to recognise it, and what to do if one is nesting nearby.

3 min read→ Wasps and hornets

Spot queen wasps early: spring tips to prevent wasp nests

A large wasp hovering round the eaves in April is a queen looking for a nest site. What to look for in spring, and how to make your home less inviting.

3 min read→ Wasps and hornets

Late wasp nests explained: why they last into autumn

Still seeing wasps in October? Nests can stay active well into autumn, and the wasps are at their most irritable. When a late nest needs treating and when it can wait.

3 min read→ Stored food pests

Flour beetles: the common kitchen cupboard invader

Small reddish-brown beetles in the flour or crawling up the cupboard wall. The fix is finding the infested packet, binning it and cleaning, not spraying.

3 min read→ Stored food pests

Fear no weevil: identification and infestation signs of stored product insects

Weevils in the rice, beetles in the flour, tiny insects walking up the cupboard door. How to tell what you have and get rid of them for good.

3 min read→ Flies

How to stop cluster flies taking over your loft

Dozens of slow, sleepy flies around the loft window. Cluster flies come back to the same buildings every autumn, and the timing of what you do matters.

3 min read→ Clothes moths

Case-bearing clothes moths: what you need to know

Small holes in a wool jumper and tiny cases stuck to the fabric. Case-bearing moth larvae carry their homes with them, and cleaning is the main cure.

3 min read→ Bees

Buzzing about bees: a guide to species identification

Honeybee, bumblebee or mason bee? Telling them apart decides what, if anything, needs doing about a nest. A plain guide to the bees you are most likely to see.

3 min read→ Beetles

When is a cockroach not a cockroach? When it's a cockchafer

A big brown beetle crashing into the window on a May evening. It is almost certainly a cockchafer: harmless, native and nothing like a cockroach.

3 min read→ Birds

Chimney nests and uninvited guests: a closer look at the jackdaw

Sticks in the fireplace and a noisy chimney in spring usually mean jackdaws. Why a chimney nest is a real hazard, what the law allows, and how to keep them out.

3 min read→ Noises

What's that sound? Common noises in the home explained

Most noises in a house are the house itself. Here is how to tell creaks and pipes from mice, rats, squirrels, birds and wasps, and what the timing tells you.

3 min read→