In November BPCA sent a team along to PestTech 2019 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

It was a busy day, with a steady stream of delegates and around 50 exhibitors (including BPCA).

We always like to champion responsible practices in professional pest management and so it was great to hear from the Bat Conservation Trust on how technicians can be mindful of this wonderful, protected species.

Jo Ferguson and Becky Wilson gave a thorough presentation on how bats use buildings, why they’re a key part of our ecosystem and the legal protection that surrounds them.

Chris Woodard, Independent Pest Control Consultant, then took the stage to talk about the role that Local Authorities can and must play in the control of rodents.

Back on the topic of responsible pest control, the National Bee Unit gave an update on the invasive Asian Hornet, which was followed by a presentation on non-lethal ways to deal with feral honey bees by Martyn Belcher and Clive Stewart.

And finally, John Lloyd, Independent Pest Management and Insect Consultancy, built a picture for delegates about what the food industry expects from a pest control contractor.

This presentation was useful for those technicians looking to move into managing high end food industry clients.

Some of the exhibitor highlights included the shooting gallery run by the Airgun Training and Education Organisation, the Butler’s Pantry wild game cooking demonstration by the Wild Chef and CJ’s Birds of Prey.

In short, the seminars were informative, the exhibitors were interesting and the facilities were great.

The BPCA stand remained busy throughout the day, the atmosphere was very friendly and it was brilliant to see familiar faces, plus quite a few new ones.