Rats........EEEKKKKKK.

[Raven]

Why have the Council not jumped on this I wonder, it's turning into a health hazzard, surely it's their duty to keep the place clean and safe?
When I was married and lived in my lovely old house there was a burn running at the front of the houses, you had to walk over a wee bridge to reach them. There was a nest of big water rats there and the Council dealt with them very quickly whenever they reappeared, as they did from time to time.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-66732675

[klondike]

Voles aren't rats
https://ypte.org.uk/factsheets/water-vole/water-voles-and-humans

If I had rats in my garden I'd probably shoot them. Traps don't usually work well and poison is a danger to pets and wildlife.

[Raven]

 No, These were rats, not voles. 

[Michael Rolls]

when Susan, my first wife, and I lived in Surbiton, our road ran parallel with a similar one, with the gardens back to back. In that road, about four or five away someone kept chickens (in Surbiton? For pity's sake) so there were rats around until Lucy, our little tabby, declared open season on them - every  morning for well over a week there would be a dead rat, some of them pretty big, laid out on the back door step

[Alex]

My only experience with rats was seeing a dead one in the grid on the patio.  Fortunately number one   son was able to remove it and placed it in the bin.  The sight of it made me shiver, gawd knows what  I'd be like with a live one, those poor people.

[klondike]

You probably wouldn't see it long. They are usually scared of people.