Might seem a silly question!

I love gardening but absolutely detest rats.
In fact, I would say I have a phobia of them.
Last year we had rats using our garden as a rat run. Having called the local council out to investigate, they found that they were living the cavities of the house next door, belonging to a very "clean" old couple....I first thought.

Anyway, rat boxes were put down, which seemed to resolve the problem.
I have not seen any rats now for quite a while.

When they were around, I would not even set foot in the garden.
Thats how bad it was... and how silly I am.

Anyway, this evening to my horror, under the cover of darkness, I caught site of a rodent shaped creature on the lawn. It was too dark to clearly identify whether it was a rat or not?
I believe it might have been, as it was about the right size. I could not see any colours or anything.

I was then very surprised to see the shape hop or "bounce" across the lawn into the borders and then it disappeared amongst the shrubs.

Whenever, I've seen rats before, they "run" or "furrow" across the ground. I have never seen, or at least noticed, one hop or jump before.
It basically pogo'd across the lawn!

So.... was this a rat I saw?... or was it some other variety of rodent?
I'm hoping it is the latter as I don't want to spend the entire summer shut away from the garden once again.

Any comments would be appreciated.

Many Thanks.