A National Trust beauty spot in England has been hit by an infestation of bugs that are considered a major pest in the UK.
Australian spider beetles have been swarming the Grade I listed property, creating a headache for staff.
Christmas critters, as they are sometimes known, have been named aptly for their abundance in both urban and rural areas close to the festive period.
However, they have become a nightmare for staff at a popular National Trust property at Knightshayes in Tiverton, Devon.
Members of staff at the Grade I listed property have now been trying to manage the infestation of the Australian spider beetles, but worry that they may spread, report Devon Live.
This year, staff at the property have had to carefully manage their Christmas decorations, with fears that they may get into the collections and public displays.
They have had to take extra precautions getting the festive displays ready.
Speaking about the horror that staff have had to endure at the National Trust property prior to having visitors over this Christmas period, Gemma Ramsbottom, collections and house officer, said that they are having to fumigate the house in order to clear it.
However, they have had to be mindful of the ornaments, collections and public, to ensure that the house is still as "hospitable as possible" for visitors.
Ms Ramsbottom said: “A big conservation challenge that we face this year is an infestation of Australian spider beetles. Over the last couple of years nationally there’s been a real increase in these little friends. They’re not a massive issue for our collections thankfully, because they are originating in the attic. They’re mainly on the second floor of the house which doesn’t have any collections in and it used to be a flat now it’s used as storage.
“They have been working their way slowly down into the house, but now we have found the source in the attic, and we’ve taped up the second floor, and fumigated that whole space. Any insects in that space have hopefully been eradicated. Now we’ve found the source we can deal with that.
“Another problem is that we’ve got bats in the attic so we’ve had to have ecologists come and tell us what we can and can’t do. We did have a maternity roost in there, and we’re hoping that over the winter we’re able to get to the source and treat it , but we’re doing everything we can."
She went on to add that the home is being cleared out in an orderly manner, saying: “We’re having a cherry-picker come and remove the foliage from the outside of the house. We’re having the chimneys cleared of birds’ nests, fumigating the house, and making the house as in hospitable as possible for these guys while making it nice for the visitors.
“They’re tiny, but not very fussy about what they eat, which is the challenge we have for them. They go for more organic materials, so we worry about things like taxidermy and organic fibres and textiles. So far, we haven’t found very much damage at all to the collections because they are mainly at the top of the house and through a lot of cleaning and fumigation, we are preventing them getting to our collections.”
She also added: “Our Christmas store is on the second floor, so every single box of decorations had to be emptied, checked, and cleaned before it came down into the house. We don’t want to infest the collections.
"We’re definitely getting on top of it and speaking to the ecologists and people who do the fumigations, but the numbers have declined and we’re hopeful we can be done with them soon.”
