Well I think he's beautiful.

Awwww! You caught that one well.

He looks surprised to be discovered...lol Well captured in your lens.

aww so cute toto ;o)

I expect his girl / or boy friend does as well Toto .. you caught it just right , well done .... :o)

he is adorable in this great shot, but I wasnt calling mine adorable today after he dismantled my nut feeder and ate the lot!

I think this is a Rat Carole .. do you have a rat or a squirel ? a squirrel I hope !

Thanks everyone. Rats are lovely Amy.

Lovely shot, caught him just right.

I know they make good pets Toto and are very intelligent at least the tame ones , I don't know about the wild ones although they are fascinating to watch , I was once staying somewhere beside a river and watched the water rats daily it seemed to me that they were creatures of habit doing the same things at the same times each day .....

What a gorgeous pic Toto.....

Thank you TOG, Amy and Milky. This one was at the side of a lake.

Hooray, your are back. Hope you're OK Toto. Great picture, fascinating creatures. We have water voles which has made me very happy, I'm sure we all have rats too not to far away but that's nature :-)

Beautiful photo of a beautiful creature........

Lol Sorry my mistake I thought he was a Squirell, a trip to spec savers lol

Lol Pansy, my eyes arent what they were but the tail was a bit of a give away :-))))

Only just made out the tail lol

Ha ha Pansy x

Thanks Pansy, Bonkers and Dawn.
Didn't think that you could get rid of me that easily did you Dawn!

I had a feeling you wouldn't think it was so nice stealing your bird food if it was a rat Carole . :o))

I was wondering where you had disappeared to Toto , it's nice to see you back :o)

My grandchildren have had pet rats for ages and they are very endearing and clean little animals. I was not so thrilled when, last winter, we had a plague of them coming into the garden as bold as brass :(

I had them in mine as well Gee , I had to rethink how to feed the birds as they were running up and down the bird tables hanging on the feeders , I now put the seed grain in dishes and then remove them at night , I have a big plastic tray that I put under the table so that anything that's dropped can be cleared away at night ... .. I agree about the pet ones but the others can spread diseases ... .. .. :o(

I had to do the same, Amy. I just couldn't believe how many I was seeing at the same time, obviously a nest somewhere nearby but I never did discover it - I suspected it would be under my old shed but there was no trace of activity when we demolished it!

Thanks Amy. All rats tend to be clean but unfortunately they pick up disease from where they live. Never touch a wild rat as not only the bite but the urine can carry a disease called leptospirosis which can be fatal.
You so right Gee, one rat is not too bad but they do multiply rapidly so should be discouraged and keeping bird food tidy and clearing away any spillage is one way of helping to do that.

Fantastic photo ! Very intelligent creatures.

Yes, very intelligent.

I just found this, Toto. I was going to ask you or Bb about rats in the garden - particularly on the bird table. We're getting one (I think only one!) at the moment.

He's eating all the bird food! Is there anything I can do to deter him?