NEWS
Thriving – Sean Mooney , of Kill Line , with Sue Francis and some of the birds benefitting from wasp larvae that would otherwise be thrown away .
Birds and the bees
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON PICTURES : CHRIS BOOTH
A
pest controller is helping save our feathered friends by donating wasp larvae to a bird rescuer .
Sean Mooney , of Teesside-based Kill Line , has had a busy summer , ethically removing bee and wasp nests from places where they ’ re causing problems .
Former blacksmith Sean ’ s firm minimises the use of poisons and rodenticides , preferring to remove nests responsibly and with as little impact on the environment as possible .
But when he heard of a plea from Ingleby Barwick resident Sue Francis , who rehabilitates birds in distress , he thought of another way he could help out .
Sue was asking for “ drone brood ” – male bee or wasp larvae that are a nutritious meal for birds . The brood are found in a honeycomb-like structure in bee and wasp nests – and Sean sees plenty of it .
So rather than throwing it out , Sean contacted Sue and now he ’ s supplying her with drone brood that would otherwise just go to waste .
And as our pictures show , the birds – starlings , swifts , crows and the like – are thriving !
Sean explained : “ I thought , ‘ I ’ m pulling these wasp nests out with a load of wasp grubs in them , and they ’ re just getting destroyed ’ so I asked Sue if they ’ d be any good for her .
“ The larvae are ideal because they ’ re soft and high in nutrition . I remove the wasps so she just gets the comb with the larvae in them and she feeds all the birds , who are fledging as a result .”
Because he doesn ’ t use chemicals , the brood isn ’ t contaminated , making it an ideal food for the birds .
Sean said : “ With a wasp nest , if we can get to it in general , we will take it out without using any poison . We ’ ll just physically remove it . We ’ re quite conscious that if we don ’ t have to use any chemicals , why would you if there ’ s another way round it ?”
The amount of brood available depends on the nest size , which get pretty hefty at this time of year .
Sean said : “ The nests we got earlier in the year were a lot smaller than now . A typical wasp nest at this time of year is about the size of a basketball , but they ’ ll be beachball size by the end of the year .
“ The brood ‘ cake ’, as we call it , is like honeycomb – but instead of honey , there ’ s a big white maggot in the middle of it which Sue just picks out and feeds to the bird . Sometimes I drop them off that fresh , they ’ re still alive . We gave a crow a lump of cake and it just flipped it over and spent ages pulling the larvae out , eating them .
“ I don ’ t charge Sue – it would just go in the bin or be burnt and destroyed otherwise .”
Sean says it ’ s been a busy summer for Kill Line – so busy , in fact , he ’ s taken on another member of staff , Ellis Hoey , who ’ s just finished his Level 2 in RSPH ( Royal Society of Public Health ) pest control .
Bee and wasp nest removals from everything from local councils and colleges to private homes have made up most of the workload – “ we ’ re the only firm that deals with honey bee removals in the North-east properly , so we ’ ve got a bit of a niche at the moment ,” says Sean – while he ’ s even been brought in to do a mink trapping job for a commercial fishery .
And with autumn approaching , he ’ s ready to deal with the annual invasion of rats , mice and moles .
He said : “ It ’ s getting to that time of year when rats are going to become a problem and 90 per cent of rat issues are going to be connected to your drains .
“ Everyone thinks rats come because your house is dirty but in general it ’ s not true . So be mindful that if you have a rat problem , make sure the source of the problem is fixed .”
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