david taylor wrote:
Sorry another late reply from me. Rats do invade compost heaps if you put
cooked scraps on them both in town and country, We had a rat in our heap in
rural Cheshire-it had dug a beautifully cylindrical hole under the garden
fence to get to cooked kitchen scraps. Our cat dealt with subsequent
intruders.
The information on cooked food came from a farmer friend who has to control
rat populations as part of his job.
We now have a sealed wormery for kitchen scraps.
Regards
David Taylor

They'll also invade if your bird table is next to the compost container.
They'll also use it for a place to stay even if food is elsewhere.

Richard.