rats

They will go away of their own accord if you clean up the grass/concrete around your bird table and then stop putting out food for the birds. They will go and visit a neighbour who does fill their bird table.

I don't think you will need to kill them if you follow this course of action.

We never put food out for the birds for just this reason.

You do need to get the pest control people in ethelbags.
Rat poison isn't for DIY attempts (which frequently don't work and endanger other wildlife and pets)
Stop putting out any food other than seed or peanuts in proper feeders and hopefully the rats will move on.
The chances are that you have many more than the three you've seen, they breed prolifically, hence the need to get sorted by the professionals.
Trapping won't work for two reasons; firstly it's illegal to release a captured rodent and secondly they carry diseases and you really shouldn't be handling them (you'd need to release them miles away and more would move in to replace yours!)

The food is attracting them in the first place.

I did as Luckygirl suggested when I saw a rat in our garden a few days running , I stopped all the bird feeding for a month and I haven't seen them since. I gradually started feeding the birds again but I we haven't been revisited as far as I can tell.

We have stopped putting out food for the birds. Our neighbour had rats in the loft and it cost over £1000 to get rid of them!

Please don't give the rats poison, horrible death for them and if any animal were to attack the poisoned rat and bite it that animal would be taking in poison too.

If you have seen three there are sure to be babies , stop feeding the birds or pest control are your only options

Our council will come out for free - check with them again, ethel. Our neighbour had one in her shed and I think it came into our garden to eat bird seed and vegetable peelings on the compost heap.
I had no qualms about getting in the rodent inspector and he caught and killed it; they carry Weil's disease, can't risk it with little children playing in the garden and we know someone who died from that nasty disease.

I wont allow the little one out in my garden until its sorted. They are cute but scary.
How does the rat people kill them, I thought they would poison them.

Just looked on our council website and they come out free to certain things, rats being one of them.

Yes, he poisoned it (we thought there were more, but it turned out to be one very large one ugh), the poison was in a box and he put it somewhere a child couldn't easily reach.
I expect I will be castigated but as far as I am concerned re rats, the only good rat is a dead one.
Can't stand pet rats either, we had to look after some once.

They should come out free, health and safety and all that. Then they come back to check they have killed it/them and take it/them away.

Yes, check because our council don't charge for rats either. We pay for wasp nests and some other pest control but not rats. If you saw three Ethel, there will be many more. Treat yourself and the birds to a squirrel proof bird feeder to make it more difficult for the rats. The only time I saw a rat in the garden was after very heavy rain and over flowing drains on the road. Pest control confirmed that was the cause and got rid of mr rat

When we were renovating one part of the house we found an electrocuted dead rat - it had bitten into a wire. Thank goodness it did not set our house on fire!

It's not very helpful, but I read that you are never more than 12 feet away from a rat! They need to be got rid of, and the council pest control service is the best solution.

When we moved to the London area I was horrified to see a very large, fat, sleek rat walk across our patio. It was the first one I had ever seen, despite living on the edge of the country before.
There was a refuse collectors' and street cleaners' strike on at the time. People were dumping rubbish anywhere - I thought, back home in Devon they would have all taken it to the tip.

I've got rats in my loft at my very old cottage in spite of having two electric "rat resellers" up there. I couldn't bear to poison them as its cruel but they do worry me. The problem is worse this year than before.

Rat repellers I meant!

Rat repellers

You're very kind wotanuisance.
I didn't poison the rats in my garden, I let the lovely man from pest control do it. I'm an animal lover but rats are my room 13

Yes. They poison them, ethel

It's no big deal if it's done properly. Check with your local council.

I normally get a walking stick and bang on the ceiling but I can't do that all night! I saw poisoned one in the garden once and it was alive but looked terrible.

God! I'm sick of all the cruelty in the world. Having said that, I do eat meat so I don't know what's what anymore.

My brother and SIL had this mega rat in their loft last year, it got in when they were having some wiring redone. ( that's a humane trap sitting behind it as they originally thought it was mice) Neither of them could bear the thought of poison so he was trapped in a squirrel trap borrowed from the SPCA and transported 4 miles away. SIL was wandering round the wilds of Shropshire wearing a head torch with a rat in a cage hoping she didn't meet any one

York City Council charged £75 to get rid of rats a couple of years ago. It might be more expensive now with the council funding cuts

ethel I think I'd stop feeding the birds. I no longer put food on the table, but use a couple of squirrel proof feeders. Bits do still drop onto the grass but not enough for rats. The council will come out for rats as my daughter recently had a problem. It seems to have been a one-off but it really scared her. Keep your back door closed. I'm not sure whether they'd come into the house that way, but if you've seen 3 there must be a nest not too far away. If your neighbour gets it free could she not be persuaded to say she'd seen them.? After all it's likely they will have visited her too. If it wasn't for the tail id agree that they are quite pretty. You can ask for humane killing but I think the council would,bait them. They use warfarin which isn't pleasant, but again you don't want the grandchildren treading where they've urinated.
Keep us posted with progress ethel. Sorry you're having this problem - not pleasant.