To undertake this job I was sent on a full pest control management course which consisted of the Identification of various pests, the damage and health hazards they posed and the methods of treatment, eradication and prevention of re-infestation. As well as the contractural management and supervision of pest control contractors including undertaking pest surveys and accompanying operatives in the execution of their duties.

The most common rodent most people encounter is the House Mouse "Mus Muscus" closely followed by the Brown Rat or Norwegian Rat "Ratus Norwegicus". Both of these are fairly common in this country though the Brown Rat tends to attract more attention due to its size and the historical bad reputation rats have (the plague) and it is still a serious threat to health, being responsible for spreading Weils disease "Lepto Spirosis" in its urine. So it should be remembered that you should never pick up a dead rat with your bare hands, and you should beware of putting your hands in puddles beside rivers or other places that rats frequent. There is another rat that is now much rarer, the Black or Ships rat "Ratus Ratus" but being so rare is not liable to cause a problem

The House mouse on the other hand has a cuddly image (thanks Micky) but it can also be a threat to health due to its dirty habits, it urinates and defacates whilst eating and its usually doing that in the packets of food in your cupboards. All the same it is still a nuisance because of the damage it does.

Another rodent that can cause problems is the Grey Squirrel their problems tend to be due to them finding their way into buildings and causing damage there whilst building a drey (nest). Outdoors they can cause problems for tree plantation owners and game keepers who need to control the numbers to keep the damage they do to a minimal amount.

All rodents need to gnaw to keep their constantly growing teeth from getting too long, and this is the cause of much of the damage that they do in buildings, including the possibility of starting fires by gnawing through electric cables.

Rodents are controlled by using Poison baits based on anti-coagulants, which generally cause them to die from internal bleeding due to the normal knocks and bumps they get. By trapping which can be a live trap, or as in the mouse trap can be designed to deliver a swift fatal blow. And finally by shooting which is an instant kill when carried out by an expert marksman.

Cockroaches have been with us for thousands of years and they like the same things that we do, warmth, food & water. They can quite happily exist whilst carrying inside them virually every disease known to be harmful to man. Their feeding habits are a major source of infection spread as they are nocternal insects and will hide during daylight hours out of the light in sewers and drains where there is already a source of food, water and warmth, emerging after dark to raid kitchens and larders.

The most commonly seen cockroach is the Oriental cockroach "Blatta Orientalis" often called the common cockroach as they are the ones most people come across, especially on foreign holidays. They are quite large, as big as your thumb and black/dark brown in colour. The females are wider and more rounded, the males longer and thinner.

The second most common cockroach is the German Cockroach "Blatella Germanica" this is smaller than the Oriental cockroach - the size of your little finger nail, is light brown in colour and is much better at climbing walls and ceilings than the Oriental, its ability to fly short distances does help.

There are lots of other species of cockroach but these two are probably the only ones that you are likely to encounter in this country.

To get rid of cockroaches you need to use a good insecticide such as permethrin with a residual effect to ensure you get them all. The use of sticky traps is only a monitoring method, not a control method. It should be bourne in mind that cockroaches leave egg cases tucked away in odd nooks and crannies that are not affected by the insecticide and these can lie dormant for months before hatching out. When they do they issue forth more than a dozen little cockroaches thus re-infestation can occur even if the original cockroaches have been eradicated.

The common black ant "Lazius Niger" causes no end of problems in houses and buildings all over the country. They actually live outdoors having adapted to living under paving slabs or concrete paths as an alternative to under rocks in the wild, and they cause a problem when they go foraging for food heading into the nearest buildings where they usually find what they are looking for. Being communicating social insects the message is soon passed on and a line of ants are soon scurrying back and forth to the food source from the nest. That is when most people find they have an ant infestation, the other time is when they swarm, the flying ants setting out to try and set up a new nest somewhere else. Hundreds will swarm in the hope that a few will survive to become new queens and perpetuate the species.

The best way to get rid of the ants is by using an insecticide as before.

Most other crawling insects do not cause as many problems, just the occasional intrusion, and they can be dealt with in the same way.

One of the unusual problems that hospitals and indeed any large establishment that has a high temperature (steam) heating system on constantly, is the opportunity for exotic tropical ant species surviving in the building. The usual culprit is called the Pharoes Ant a tiny - pin head sized red ant that is very difficult to see with the naked eye. This is where its problem lies, being so small the ants can get into sterile packets and under dressings without being noticed and can transfer infections from one patient to another. They are usually only spotted by accident as even an active trail only looks like a thin piece of red cotton until investigated close up. Unlike the black ant the Pharoes only send a small percentage of the nest out foraging, so insecticides are not effective against the nest. A growth preventing hormone mixed in with a tasty sweet base is fed to the foraging ants, for them to take back to the nest, before the foragers are knocked down with the insecticide. The growth preventing hormone stops the young ants maturing to breed so the nest then dies out.

Whilst the Rat got the bad reputation for spreading the plague, it was actually the fleas on the rats that were the real culprits. Fleas have adapted to feeding on many different species and observations under a microscope show differences between the fleas from one animal to the fleas from another which are used for identification. Most peoples experience with fleas will be with cat or dog fleas and contrary to popular belief you do not get bitten whilst with the animal but when you are away from it. The flea has a preference to feeding on its host animal whenever it can, but if you have a flea on your clothes from your animal at home whilst you go to work, the flea will not be able to feed on its host so will feed on the nearest warm blooded creature it can - you. Hence people complain of being bitten by fleas at work, not realising they themselves brought them from home.

Fleas also lay eggs that can lie dormant in the carpets until a warm blooded creature walks past, then they hatch out and spring up to the source of food. And if you have just walked into an unoccupied house where there used to be cats or dogs, then you just aquired some fleas. Thats the other way people can get bitten.

Another biting insect that people might encounter is not a pleasant one to find, the Bed Bug and whilst I know about them I have never had to deal with them in my duties.

As before a good insecticide will kill insects but you may need to use medical preparations to treat the bites, and hot washing your clothes to ensure non survive on them. It also helps to treat your pets with a proprietary anti-flea treatment.

The common household Fly is a nuisance but more than that it feeds by regurgitating onto the food which dissolves it, then sucks the whole lot up again, and as the last thing that it did that on, before landing in your kitchen was freshly made in a cow field - well you get the idea. They do spread germs and bacteria which can cause food poisening so you should take every precaution to protect your food from them. The commercial way to protect food premises from flies and flying insects is to use an ultra violet Insecticuter which attracts the insect to an electrified grid by ultra violet light. Domestic users rely on insecticide sprays or blocks that release insecticide into the room.

Most other flies and midges are dealt with in the same way, though midges in a building usually indicate a source of stagnant rotting material which should be addressed at the same time.

All Birds are protected by law under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

However in some circumstances, the presence of certain birds can become a pest problem and require one form of control or another. The first measure that anyone should take is to provide bird proofing to exclude the birds from the areas where their presence is causing a problem.

Feral Pigeons are notorious for roosting on buildings where their nests and droppings cause a serious health hazard if left unchecked. Removing the nests and droppings and installing spikes or nets to prevent them returning to the roosting perches is the first step. However feral pigeons are quite persistant in trying to return to the sites they are used to, and you may have to eliminate the more persistant ones. I have experienced a situation where pigeons roosted in a roof space when some slates were broken and when the slates were replaced the pigeons actually pecked at the slates until they smashed them to get back in.

Similar roosting problems can be experienced with Starlings though in trees rather than on buildings, and very occasionally House Sparrows due to the sheer number of them in one place.

The other birds that may cause a problem are usually members of the Corvid Family,Crow, Rook, Magpie, Jay, Jackdaw, though this has more to do with rural wildlife management and protection, than causing a health hazard to people.

Rural pests are usually pests that affect farms and farming though any urban livestock or pets can be at risk in certain circumstances.

Rats and Mice can be serious pests especially on grain producing farms as pest contamination can ruin a stored crop, likewise grain weevil and beetle infestation will ruin a crop.

Collared Doves and Feral Pigeons can also cause contamination with their droppings, and their nests contain ticks and lice. The Corvids are by nature carniverous and will prey on the young of other birds and animals so their numbers need to be kept in check or they can decimate the local population of song birds etc. Wood pigeons can eat a tremendous amount of grain or cereal crop especially when there are large flocks of them.

Rabbits dig holes that cattle and sheep can break their legs in, and eight rabbits will eat the same amount of grazing as one sheep, as well as gnawing at the base of young trees which will kill them.

Foxes are a traditional Rural pest, because they will not just kill for "a meal" they get a killing frenzy and will kill every hen in the hen house and just eat the one, which is why they have such a bad reputation. Now a days they have found easier pickings in urban areas where they scavange dustbins but pets in garden hutches are at risk all the same, and many a child has woken up to find their pet rabbit or guineapig gone.