Autumn should be bringing cooler temperatures to Andalucía by now, but the summer heat is proving reluctant to leave. That matters for more than comfort, as unusual conditions are changing animal behaviour around homes and making it harder to predict when some of the year’s most common household pest problems will appear.

Residents in both towns and villages may need to stay particularly alert over the coming weeks. Built-up areas can provide exactly what many of these animals are looking for, including food, water, warmth and shelter, while the changing weather is making the usual seasonal patterns less predictable.

Six pests to watch as temperatures change

The autumn warning covers mice and rats, cockroaches, mosquitoes, bed bugs, ants and spiders, although each can respond to the changing conditions differently. Some remain active because temperatures are still high, while others start looking for warmer or more sheltered places as outdoor conditions eventually become less comfortable.

People living in cities and villages can be more likely to encounter them because homes, rubbish areas, drains, gardens, storage spaces and other built-up surroundings provide plenty of opportunities for animals seeking food or shelter.

Rodents could become the biggest problem

Mice and rats are expected to become particularly noticeable as the weather eventually cools. Mice start looking for warmth, shelter and food, which can bring them indoors from around October. Rats can also become more visible as finding food becomes more difficult, encouraging them to travel further in search of it.

Urban and village properties can both provide easy access to food and shelter, particularly where rubbish, animal feed or other food sources are accessible. There are several ways to make a home less attractive to rodents. Food should be kept in sealed containers, crumbs and food waste cleared away promptly and rubbish bins kept securely closed. Pet food should not be left outside overnight, while gaps around doors, windows, pipes and other possible entry points can be sealed where possible.

Mosquitoes can remain active into autumn

The arrival of September does not necessarily mean an end to mosquito activity. September and October can be critical months, particularly when humidity remains high. Andalucía’s continuing warmth means residents should not assume that autumn will immediately bring an end to bites.

Mosquitoes can be encountered in both urban and rural communities, particularly where water is allowed to collect around homes and gardens. The most useful measure around the home is to remove standing water. Plant saucers, buckets, watering cans, toys and other containers can collect enough water for mosquitoes to breed. Emptying them regularly and keeping water containers covered can reduce the opportunities available to them.

Cockroaches are not gone yet

Cockroach numbers should eventually decline as temperatures fall, but they can remain active while warm conditions persist. Cities and villages can provide plenty of places for them to find food, moisture and shelter, from drains and rubbish areas to kitchens and other parts of buildings.

Keeping kitchens clean, storing food securely, taking rubbish out regularly and fixing leaking taps or pipes can remove some of the things cockroaches seek. Cracks and gaps around pipes, doors and walls can also provide routes indoors and should be sealed where practical.

Bed bugs could follow you home

Bed bugs have a different connection to the end of summer, with months of travel creating more opportunities for them to move between accommodation and homes. They can be transported in luggage, clothing and belongings without being noticed. After travelling, checking suitcases, clothing and other items before putting them away can help spot a problem early.

Keeping luggage away from beds and upholstered furniture until it has been checked can also reduce the opportunity for any bugs to spread. Unlike the other pests on the list, bed bugs are not entering homes because autumn temperatures make them seek shelter. Their presence at this time of year is more closely linked to the increased movement of people during the summer holiday period.

Ants may start looking indoors

As outdoor conditions change, ants can seek out food, water and shelter inside homes. Small gaps around windows, doors and other openings can provide easy access. They can be particularly noticeable around properties with gardens, patios or other outdoor areas where food and moisture are readily available, but built-up homes can also provide everything they need.

Keeping food sealed, wiping up sugary spills quickly, emptying bins regularly and dealing with leaks or damp areas can make a property less appealing. Entry points around the building can also be sealed where possible, particularly if ants are repeatedly appearing in the same areas.

Spiders may seek warmer spaces

Spiders can also move indoors as they look for more sheltered conditions. Their presence is not necessarily a sign of an infestation, but they can become more noticeable around homes during seasonal changes. Garages, sheds, storage areas, gardens and quieter parts of buildings can all provide suitable shelter, whether a property is in a city, village or more rural setting.

If you do not want spiders in the house I suggest keeping windows and doors screened where possible, sealing gaps around frames and reducing clutter in garages, storage areas and other quiet spaces can limit the places available for them to settle. The changing weather means there is no longer such a reliable calendar for when particular pests will become more or less active. With Andalucía moving into autumn while temperatures remain unusually high, residents may need to keep up precautions that would normally be associated with different parts of the year.

Everything costs more these days. The supermarket shop is more expensive, filling the car costs more and even the things we buy or use every day are taking a bigger chunk out of our income. For people already trying to make their money cover the basics, those increases leave less and less room for anything else.

 And while steep price rises have become normal across Spain, one small village bar is taking a very different approach, deliberately keeping its prices down to make life a little easier for the people who come through its doors.

Everyday essentials are getting harder to afford

The squeeze is being felt in the places people cannot simply stop spending money. Food has to be bought, cars still need fuel and household bills have to be paid before there is any money left for going out. Spain’s annual inflation rate reached 3.6 per cent in July this year, up from 3.2 per cent in June, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).

For people whose incomes have not kept pace with the cost of living, those increases can mean having to cut back on things that once seemed relatively inexpensive. A coffee, a beer or an occasional meal out might not be essential, but when the price of necessities keeps rising, these are often among the first expenses to be reconsidered.

The cost of everyday life keeps climbing

The pressure is particularly difficult for people on lower incomes, who have less room to absorb increases in food, fuel, household bills and other regular expenses. INE figures show that workers in accommodation and food services had average annual earnings of €17,653.42 in 2024, the lowest among the main economic activities measured. Unskilled service workers had average annual earnings of €16,062.57.

It means that the same price increase can have very different consequences depending on how much someone earns each month. For a household already using most of its income to cover essentials, there may be little left to absorb another increase at the supermarket, another trip to the petrol station or a higher bill when eating or drinking out. And that is where one small business in Valladolid is trying to do things differently.

A coffee for €1.5

It sounds like something from the past but  Rincón de Rubo is a family-run bar in Villanueva de Duero, where owner Rubén Carpintero Rico has chosen to keep his prices deliberately low, a coffee costs €1.50, while a caña costs €1.60. Rubén, 31, says the prices are kept adjusted so that customers can continue to enjoy the bar without the cost becoming a luxury.

The business opened four years ago and has four employees. It serves coffee and tapas alongside hamburgers, paellas and other food. For a village of around 1,260 people, the bar also provides a local place to meet, eat and have a drink without having to travel elsewhere. The prices stand out at a time when customers across Spain are encountering higher costs in businesses of all kinds.

The bar has rising costs too

Rubén is not operating in a world where everything has stayed the same price. He has worked in hospitality since 2013 and has more than 13 years of experience in the sector. Running the bar means dealing with suppliers, employees, rent, utilities, taxes, accounts and the other costs involved in keeping the business operating.

He says the business can provide a living, but running a bar requires long hours and involvement in practically every part of the operation. That makes keeping prices down a conscious decision. Rather than automatically passing every increase in his own costs on to customers, Rubén is trying to maintain prices that people in the village can manage.

Keeping a simple pleasure affordable

For someone struggling to make their income cover the basics, being able to stop for a coffee without spending several euros can matter. The same applies to meeting friends for a drink. These may not be necessities, but they are part of everyday life and are often among the things people give up when money becomes tight. Rubén’s approach does not change the rising cost of food, fuel or household bills, and it does not remove the financial pressures facing the business itself.

What it does offer is a small pocket of affordability in a market where customers are increasingly being asked to pay more. At El Rincón de Rubo, the price remains €1.50 for a coffee and €1.60 for a caña. For customers already watching what they spend, that means one less everyday expense that has to keep climbing.

If you have built your life in Spain, having a Spanish child or family ties here might make you feel that you have some protection from being forced to leave. But for foreign residents convicted of serious crimes, those connections do not necessarily prevent Spain from ordering their expulsion. That is now the reality facing a British man in Granada, who is serving a prison sentence for attempted murder and will be deported from Spain after the region’s highest court rejected his appeal.

He argued that his daughter, who has a Spanish mother, was a reason he should be allowed to stay, the High Court of Justice of Andalucía (TSJA) accepted that he has a daughter in Spain but found that there was no evidence of an ongoing relationship with either the child or her mother, or that he contributed financially to his daughter’s support. His criminal record ultimately outweighed the family connection, leaving the expulsion order in place.

Four-year prison sentence for attempted murder

The British national was sentenced by the Provincial Court of Granada to four years in prison for attempted murder. The sentence also included an eight-year restraining order. He received a further nine-month prison sentence for unlawful possession of weapons. His latest conviction was considered alongside previous offences recorded in Spain. These included a one-year-and-six-month prison sentence for offences against public health and a six-month sentence for threats dating from 2012.

He had also been arrested in 2010 in connection with causing bodily harm, the TSJA considered this history when deciding whether his expulsion should go ahead. Rather than treating the attempted murder conviction as an isolated incident, the court assessed his wider criminal record when considering whether he continued to pose a threat to public safety and public order.

Spanish daughter did not prevent expulsion

The man’s appeal focused partly on his family circumstances. He has a daughter with a Spanish national and argued that this connection should be taken into account before he was expelled. Spanish courts can consider family and personal circumstances when examining an expulsion, meaning having relatives or children in the country can be relevant to an individual case.

However, the TSJA found that there was no evidence showing that the man maintained contact with his daughter or her mother. There was also no evidence that he contributed financially towards his daughter’s support. The court therefore concluded that the family connection did not outweigh the concerns arising from his criminal record. The judges considered his history and the nature of his most recent conviction when assessing whether he represented a continuing risk. They concluded that he posed a current danger to public safety and public order and upheld the expulsion decision.

What Spanish law means for foreign residents

Spain’s Immigration Act provides for the expulsion of foreign nationals who have been convicted of intentional offences carrying a potential prison sentence of more than one year, provided the relevant criminal record has not been cancelled. That does not mean every foreign resident who receives a prison sentence is automatically deported. The circumstances of each case can be examined, including family and personal circumstances and the seriousness of the offences involved.

For British nationals who have lived in Spain since Brexit, immigration status and criminal convictions can therefore become particularly important when authorities consider whether someone should remain in the country. In this case, however, the court found that the man’s criminal record and the risk he was considered to pose outweighed the family connection he put forward.

Deportation order remains in place

The TSJA’s ruling means the man’s challenge against his expulsion has failed and the deportation order remains in force.There is no indication in the available report that he has already been physically removed from Spain, and no date for his deportation has been given.

For the man, the unsuccessful appeal leaves the Spanish authorities free to proceed with his expulsion once the relevant process is carried out. The ruling also underlines that family connections alone are not necessarily enough to prevent a foreign national with serious convictions from being ordered to leave Spain. In this case, the court found that the absence of evidence of an active relationship with his daughter, combined with his criminal history, meant that remaining in the country could not be justified on family grounds.