"Yesterdays Uninvited Visitor"

We had them in our garden, then they moved onto nextdoors garden and then Into nextdoors conservatory one day, they ended up having to 'remove' them.

I've not seen any live ones but our cat brought in three dead young ones a couple of years ago so there must be some around. Its inevitable in rural areas,especially as next door keep a few chickens. Just try to keep the bird food off the ground. Have to say that the one in your last pic looks very intelligent and poses well!

Hi Carole..your little visitor looks quite at home there..! He knows where to come,doesn't he? food. lots of shelter etc :o) Tell Harry not to put a special dish out for him..ha ha..
I must admit,my door would be firmly shut too..!

Oh Carol! I have to admit I wouldn't have welcomed this fellow into my garden. I hate rats. Keep your door firmly shut, you don't want him strolling indoors!

That's one form of wildlife I wouldn't welcome into my garden, fortunately I've never seen any round our way. Doesn't mean they aren't there, but as long as I don't see them it's OK!

Now that I also wouldn't like but I dare say there are some around, I remember having some dead babies delivered to the doorstep years ago when our Tipsy was a youngster, I didn't even realise they were rats until my son told me and to this day I don't know where she got them from,thank goodness no gifts lately, I would have done the same as you and got the camera out Carol but doors would have remained closed...

Its the bird food Carole , I've seen them run up and down the bird station but having said that we haven't seen them since the owners removed the chickens the other side of the fence ,chickens deff. encourage rats , I hope you've seen the last of them , Nasty horrid things !

I think she has been baking for him,Amy..her scones are lovely..or it could be partial to Lemon Drizzle cake? :o)

Thanks all for your comments, I havent seen any sign of them over the last couple of days, but have been careful with the bird seed and have made sure there is none accessible to them and all doors firmly shut! so hopefully they are visiting elsewhere! ;0)

I fear that rats are never far away in our garden either and I do think the bird food encourages them to come a bit closer. Hope he called just the once and that he won't bother you again!

Gosh! No, never seen one here ...yet! They love places where fowl are reared I think.

Thanks for the compliment Sandra regarding my baking, but I feel that if thats what is encouraging them Im afraid I will have to give up making scones and pies and make some special buns from a secret recipe just for Rats !

We had one just the other day very dopey, neighbours keep chickens so it'd probably been poisoned, we have a very welcome neighbours cat who I often see with mice so it wouldn't have lasted long thank goodness, I haven't seen it since.

Not a welcome sight for you I'm sure, hope he and his missus have scooted off elsewhere, didn't put a "like" because I don't like rats but you were brave to get such super photos of the rascal :o)

Pet rats are really intelligent creatures, more so than say hamsters, but wild rats can carry diseases. We were sitting in our conservatory one summers evening when we saw what looked like a squirrel hanging from the bird table by it's back feet to get at peanuts in a wire bird feeder. Got the rat about a week later, rip!

We have them here every so often, probably because we are so close to the village pond and some folk feed the ducks by flinging whole loaves of bread etc around! Millie is a very good deterrent in the garden although she doesn't chase anything else. I stopped making compost when they nested in it some years ago, very scary when they all ran as I lifted the lid - I ran faster though :)

I'm glad the rats went away.
I've never seen any in my garden but I can hear them in the fields during the night.
I remember once, a rat came into my gran's garden when I was little, and it ran up the drain pipe. My Grampa blocked the pipe and turned the water on, in order to drown the rat ... but I took the blockage away. I couldn't bear to see the rat drown, and it escaped up the back lane (to my grama's horror! lol) I was given a row for doing it, but I just told them all how cruel I thought they were ;D

Such a shame that they do carry desease and breed so prolifically as they are as Siris says such intelligent creatures only trying to survive. I suppose in a way they're like the "weeds" of our wildlife.

one way to stop rats coming in your garden to feed on the bird seed, is to use a pole feeder and place a squirrel proof bowl upside on the pole about afoot below the feeder, this will catch any seed thrown out of the feeder (drill little holes in the bottom to allow water to drain out) you may have pigeons feeding in the bowl but it is better than rats and no mess on the ground. works really well for us