Rats!

I belong to an email chat list where no subject is taboo, discussions get very involved and topics quickly get diverted into all sorts of interesting byways - almost like being in an old fashioned pub but with a couple of hundred people chipping in with their own points of view.
A couple of days ago a conversation which began (I think) as a discussion of what is and isn't VATable segued into an explanation of what fat balls are. One person pointed out that in his experience all fat balls did was attract rats to the bird table and the birds never got a look in.
Smug clever me responded that the rats don't get at my fat balls, housed as they are in a hanging cage, and someone else continued with another more complicated method involving old CDs - sounds fun.
Then I moved from my computer at the front of the house to the kitchen, glanced out of the window - and there was the brownest, sleekest, fattest, biggest rat I have ever seen, spread across the crumb tray scoffing homemade brown bread crumbs with gusto! He still couldn't get at the fat balls, though...
The crumb tray is the lowest item on the feeding station, but it still at least seven feet off the ground. There's a vertical pole to climb to reach it, but it does go up through the hebe, which would assist in climbing. Also, I've pruned a lot of the branches to make it easier for me to climb and reach up for refilling purposes. As soon as the rat sensed me at the window it scurried down the pole and across to the other side of the garden, taking refuge under a loose pile of unused plantpots behind the compost bin. Immediately it vanished, a dozen sparrows that had been waiting chattering on the back fence flew straight down to the feeders in what almost looked like desperation, but is actually just normal for them.
After a few minutes the rat came back, ran across to the base of the feeders, turned straight round and back under the pots. And vanished. It hasn't been seen since, although I am well aware that that doesn't mean it isn't there, just that it's being a bit more careful.
I'm a bit equivocal about rats; I admire them as intelligent and resourceful animals, and if I'm having a wildlife garden then there should be a place for all wildlife, but I still have this feeling they're not quite safe to have around. So I've compromised. I'm taking Ty down into the garden with me a couple of times a day, in the hope that that's enough to make my new friend move along. And I've stopped putting out breadcrumbs for the birds, which means disappointed pigeons gathering on the roof and protesting quite loudly. So perhaps I'll have to start again - perhaps I'll try the old CDs dangingling trick!