Follow the trail, don't wipe it
Every worker ant that travels the same route back and forth strengthens the scent trail for the ones that follow, which is why a trail seems to get busier the longer it's ignored, as anyone near Shepherd's Bush will recognise, where ex-council estates and Victorian terraces near the Green and Westfield. Tracking where the trail leads reveals the colony's location, whereas cleaning it off only prompts a fresh trail to be laid, much as it does near Fulham, where tightly packed Victorian terraces stretching from the King's Road end down towards the river.
Find the entry point first
Warm, still weather brings out the most activity, so watch rather than break up the trail as it runs back from wherever the food was found - the same pattern holds near Parsons Green, where larger Victorian houses and terraces around the green and the district line station. A gap at a patio door threshold, pipework entering the kitchen, or the edge of a window frame are the usual routes - mark whichever it turns out to be.
Fulham's small rear gardens
Ants come in through patio doors and low gaps, most often in Fulham's terraced houses that have small rear gardens, where a nest is typically found tight against the back wall of the house or under a short run of paving close to the door - a short trip for a trail, but no less determined once established.
Larger gardens around Parsons Green
Around Parsons Green, where the larger Victorian houses come with correspondingly larger gardens, a nest can sit well away from the house, under a path or at the base of a garden wall, which makes it worth tracing properly rather than assuming the nearest paving is the source.
What to leave alone for now
- Spraying the trail, which kills the foragers and leaves the colony intact
- Pouring boiling water into paving, which can damage mortar and rarely reaches the queen
- Filling the entry gap before the nest is dealt with, which sends the ants to a new gap
- Scattering powders along the trail, which can split a colony into several smaller ones
Closing the way in afterwards
With the colony gone, the last step is sealing the exact gaps the ants were exploiting, a threshold, a pipe hole, a mortar crack, and nothing more, just as near White City, where new-build residential towers and regenerated estates around the old exhibition site. Keep weep holes and air bricks open, blocking them as well only creates a damp problem inside the wall, whether that's near Shepherd's Bush, where ex-council estates and Victorian terraces near the Green and Westfield, or elsewhere in the borough.
Booking ant control in Hammersmith and Fulham
Ant control in Hammersmith and Fulham runs £190 for a flat and £220 for a house, and because around White City, where new-build residential towers and regenerated estates around the old exhibition site, it helps to say roughly whereabouts in the garden the nest might be when you book ant control, with the rest on the Hammersmith and Fulham ant control page.
