Rob: Hi Pat, How Are You?
Pat: All Good Thanks Rob, Guess You Will Be Wanting A Coffee ?
Rob : Of course, 2 Sugars Please, What You Been Up To?
Pat: Late Night Last Night, I Was Still Working At 9 O’clock At A Golf Club.
Rob: (Just To Explain To The Reader, Pat Is The Longest Serving Member Of Our Staff At Pestwise, Apart From Me Plus An Old Friend)
Rob: Where Were You ‘Till That Time?
Pat: I Was Called Out To Northants County Golf Club To Deal With A Wasp Nest, It Was In The Ground By The Third Tee And A Few Of The Golfers Had Been Stung, So It Was Pat To The Rescue.
Rob: We’ve Been ‘Looking After” That Particular Golf Club For Over 15 Years Now Mate And You’ve Done An Outstanding Job Of Keeping The Rabbits, Moles And Squirrels At A Managable Population.If You Remember, The Coarse Was Damaged Really Badly By The Rabbits And The Young Trees Were Almost All Destroyed By The Infestation Of Grey Squirrel’s. It Was Costing The Club A Lot Of Money To Keep On Repairing The Damage.
Pat: Yes, We Now Have A Nice Balance Of Wildlife There Now. Deer, Badgers & Foxes Have Been Spotted By The Golf Club Members And They Are Happy To See Them. We Get The Odd Problem With Moles & Rabbits Causing Havoc On The Greens Now And Then But It’s Rare.
Also, The Song Birds Have Made A Comeback Since The Grey Squirrels Have Be Controlled. We Now See Blue Tits, Great Tits, Woodpeckers And A Good Selection From The Finch Family, It Really Is A Beautiful Place To Work And Play Golf, If That’s Your Thing.
Rob: The Problem With Moles. How’s That Going?
Pat: On Going As Always With Moles. Because The Soil Is So Good, Mr Mole Will Always Be Around. We Have Successfully Controlled Them Over The Years But It’s An Ongoing Challenge.
Rob: Why Do You Enjoy Pest Control?
Pat: Most Of All, It’s What I’m Good At And It Gets Me Out And About, Meeting People.Contrary To Popular Belief, Pest Control Isn’t All About Killing Animals. If An Animal Is In The Wrong Place It Is Deemed A Pest.
Take Bees For Example, They Can Be Moved On. We Also Get A Lot Of Calls In The Summer Months From Customers Asking Us What Can We Do About The Bees In Their Garden, Up The Chimney, In Their Garage Or Shed, Or Indeed Their Golf Club?A Lot Of The Time Clients Has Misidentified The Species Of Hornet, Wasp Or Bee. So, We Are Able To “Put ‘Em Right”.If It’s Honey Bees That Are Causing The Problem, We Contact The Lads And Lassies From The Beekeepers Association And Let Them Deal With Rehoming Them.
Some Pests You Just Have To Learn To Live With, Like Mr Badger And Certain Birds, In The Nesting Season, We Also Tend Not To Disturb Foxes If At All Possible.
All Our Golf Club Clients Are Made Up Of Paying Members, Sometimes I Can Feel The Pressure With So Many Eyes On Me While I’m Work, If You Know What I Mean. Everybody Has An Opinion On Animals And The Preservation Of Nature These Days And Some Are Misinformed By So Called Experts Or “Tv Pundits” But I Must Say Everybody That I Come In To Contact With On The Golf Courses We Look After, Are Very Knowledgable And/Or Politely Curious.
Rob: Nice To Chat To You Pat. You Are Doing A Great Job, As Always. Keep Up The Good Work.
Cheers For The Coffee.
