Argh Rat

@mazambo the nest may indeed be under your decking. It doesn't mean you have to remove it though.
Lift a couple of boards in different places and place rat traps/ poison underneath.
Feeding the birds is one of the priorities of most Gardeners
When the council dealt with the rats here, they acknowledged we where wildlife friendly and placed the bait accordingly
Wishing you luck on getting it sorted

 

Lifted some of the decking boards today, can't see any chewing whatsoever but I can see scrapes in the gravel where it's been going under the joists and around my acer, haven't spotted anything under there but probably lift some more over the weekend weather permitting.

 

It’s a problem. I feed the birds and last summer we had a few rats. We have a cat but she couldn’t catch them all so we resorted to poison. It worked after a couple of weeks but I didn’t like doing it. I didn’t like the idea of killing non target species so stopped putting down poison. Haven’t seen any rats recently.

I’m intrigued by your peanut butter, baking powder recipe. Please post it. Never heard of this before.

 

Hope I've done the link right.

Does Baking Soda Kill Rats?

 

Been rat free (well I haven't seen one) since I lifted the decking boards, I'm sitting outside on a glorious sunny day with a cold drink and have decided I'm taking up the decking completely, I have concrete sleepers I put down around the pond I used to have and where the pond was I'm going to turn back to soil, I can use up the decking in various ways so nothing will go to waste.

 

I really do find that decking is Rat heaven,I personally wouldn't entertain it although it does look nice.You're doing the right thing @mazambo

 

Thanks @Marley Farley & @lolimac I think it's definitely the way to go.

 

Job done, might Freecycle the gravel save getting a skip.

 

Nice one @mazambo ..job well done.