BPCA has released two new free CPD videos for pest professionals, covering practical insect identification and forthcoming changes to lead ammunition rules.
Both sessions were recorded at BPCA Digital Forum 39 and are now available free through BPCA’s YouTube channel.
In Dirty in-field insect identification, Paul Westgate from Veritas Pest Consultancy looks at practical ways technicians can identify insects while out on site.
Rather than relying solely on photographs or identification apps, Paul demonstrates how magnification, habitat clues and key physical characteristics can help narrow down an identification.
Using examples such as booklice, cockroaches, beetles, moths, flies, fleas, and ants, he also explains why keeping samples can be useful and why sometimes saying “I don’t know yet” is the professional answer.
The session includes a particularly unusual example involving termites discovered during a callout in Sussex.
To watch the Dirty in-field insect identification video, click here.
The second video, Taking the lead: changing shooting and ammunition laws for pest professionals, features rural pest management specialist Dave Archer.
Dave looks at changes affecting lead ammunition and the alternatives available to pest professionals who use rifles, shotguns, and air weapons.
Drawing on almost five decades of work in pest and wildlife management, he discusses copper, steel, and tungsten ammunition, airgun power limits, differences in firearms law across the UK, and the importance of checking equipment and accuracy.
The session also explores the wider responsibility of pest professionals to ensure that lethal control is legal, necessary, humane, and carried out professionally.
To watch the Taking the lead video, click here.
Both videos form part of BPCA’s growing library of free professional development content.
The BPCA YouTube channel now has more than 3,700 subscribers and over 300 videos covering pest biology, treatment techniques, legislation, business management and other topics relevant to pest professionals.
Pest professionals can subscribe to the channel, by clicking here, to receive new free CPD content as it is released.
