Sue wrote:
:: I've either seen one rat three times or three different ones this
:: afternoon. One of my neighbours said that they've had them before.
:: They had come up from the river and were nesting under a shed
:: further down the road.
::
:: Any advice? I suppose I'd better start by clearing away the area
:: with bricks, paving slabs and roof tiles stored in it as that's
:: where I saw it / them twice right under the bird feeder. Do I have
:: to stop feeding the birds? Not keen on that idea.

You need to remove their food souce and shelter and they will move on, you
could poison them of course but this will not solve the problem if there is
food and shelter there, another colony would simply take their place.
Considering they can breed at 40 days of age and have a gestation period of
21 days, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that if left
undisturbed, they will soon run riot - they will continue breeding right
through winter if there is a food source.
You'll have to remove or rearrange the bricks/tiles/slabs, preferably so
that rainwater can pass right through - like us, they don't like being wet -
stack the bricks tight up to each other and try standing the slabs around
the sides as a wall - they will find any small niche which remains dry and
nest in it.
Move the birdfeeder to a more exposed spot [1] and utilise some of the ideas
mentioned elsewhere in this thread to minimise spillage...rats are
incredibly intelligent animals and will exploit any environment to survive,
the only thing you can do is make it as rat unfriendly as you can.

[1]
there will always be some spillage but if it's minimal and in an exposed
flat area, they will be loath to venture into it as they will feel
vulnerable....this may be a patio or other hard landscaped area, somewhere
where there are no hidey holes or easy escapes, they are wild animals after
all and do not like leaving themselves under threat, especially if the
rewards are negligible.


HTH