The HPE Species Library

Brown rat

Rattus norvegicus

The UK's most common commensal rodent — an adaptable burrowing mammal that follows drains, food waste and warmth into Hertfordshire homes and businesses.

House mouse

Mus musculus

The most frequently reported indoor pest in UK homes — a small, curious rodent that exploits cavity walls, service risers and shared voids.

Grey squirrel

Sciurus carolinensis

An invasive non-native rodent that enters lofts through soffits and rooflines, causing significant cable and insulation damage.

Bed bug

Cimex lectularius

A blood-feeding insect that harbours within a few metres of where people sleep and increasingly resists conventional insecticides.

Common wasp

Vespula vulgaris

A social wasp whose nests grow from a golf ball in spring to several thousand workers by late summer, most often in lofts, soffits and cavity walls.

European hornet

Vespa crabro

Britain's largest social wasp — imposing but far less aggressive than the common wasp, and a protected part of the ecosystem where it poses no risk.

Cat flea

Ctenocephalides felis

Responsible for the overwhelming majority of UK household flea infestations — including in homes with no pets at all.

German cockroach

Blattella germanica

The most serious indoor cockroach in the UK — small, fast-breeding and almost always associated with warm kitchen and appliance voids.

Black garden ant

Lasius niger

Britain's most familiar ant — a soil-nesting species that forages indoors for sugar and produces the mass flying-ant emergence each July.

Case-bearing carpet moth

Tinea pellionella

A textile pest whose larvae — not the adult moths — cause the damage, feeding on keratin in wool carpets, rugs and clothing.

Varied carpet beetle

Anthrenus verbasci

A textile pest often mistaken for carpet moth — its bristly 'woolly bear' larvae chew clean, sharp-edged holes in wool and natural fibres.

Pest birds

Columba livia domestica and associated species

Feral pigeons, gulls, starlings and sparrows nesting and roosting on buildings — the fouling, blocked gutters and insect carry-over matter more than the birds themselves.