Like it or not, rats are here to stay

IN MY part of the country the grain harvest has been under way for several weeks now.

The country roads are full of slow convoys of traffic backed up behind combine harvesters or huge green trailers full of malting barley. And along the road verges and in the fields of new stubble you suddenly start seeing rats.

Rats are normally quite nocturnal animals but the bounty of spilled grain tempts them out in the daylight hours. Much of the grain they collect will be stored under ground for use during hard times in the winter.