John L wrote:
I've just seen a rat come over our garden shed roof, down the gutter, up
the stick that holds the bird feeder, and then start feeding itself. It
did it 3 times in 20 minutes. It looked huge (but then: they always do
I believe). It was definitely a brown rat - pink paws and all that.

So: tomorrow I buy a couple of rat traps, and tell the neighbours; on
Tuesday I'll tell the council (FWIW).

If you can remove the top, make a plate of something like the bottom of
a big plastic tub, cut a hole in the middle to fit the post and fix it
somewhere high enough that the rat(s) can't take a flying leap to get over.

Fixing blocks preferably on the top surface...

You could use the ratbaffle/catbaffle as an auxillary feeding surface.

We live in a rural village right next to fields/woods (hm - sounds
great don't it?). However our houses are standard 60s semis (i.e. not
converted barns on the site of an old farmhouse). We've been here 25
years, and I don't ever remember seeing a rat before in such flagrant
proximity.

And not eeing such before is the surprising thing. If it's safe, you
might borrow an air rifle and forget about the council.

So: any comments from people here who have suffered from rats? I feel
we need to eradicate them ASAP.

Hum. People have been trying to do that for centuries. You might keep
themm down - eradicate them, never.

p.s. To save comments: in those 25 years we've always had compost heaps
(with no food scraps) and we've always had bird feeders.

Quite right too.

--
Rusty