I was sitting at my desk working last night, when a movement on the hedgecam camera caught my eye. I am used to having rodent visitors on here and will be uploading some clips in the coming week of voles and wood mice visiting. This visitor was much bigger….. a male rat! I have often been asked if I have a problem with rats here considering how much food I put out, but I can honestly say, I have never seen them here and only caught one on the trail cam once. This is the first time I have seen one on any of my cameras.
Not everyone likes rats… personally, I think they get a really bad press. Yes, I know that they can carry disease and are associated with such ‘horribles’ as the plague, but in small numbers living in a rural environment as they are here, they do not cause me any issues. My garden is full of voles and wood mice, but these poor guys do not get the ‘ohhs and ahhhs’ but rather the ‘eerrrr’ s.
Here is a clip filmed from the camera wired up on this feeder. The IR is a bit strong and needs adjusting a bit. He’s pretty big… I can see this feeder from my office. May be he’ll become a regular visitor….. watch out on my night cams