Just need a bit of talking down !
My ddog has been obsessing over a hole I made yonks ago to plant a tree (tree I want never in stock so the hole remains !!). I assumed a fox or cats were weeing there and I always call him away mainly as he gets so muddy.
There are lots of old tree roots in-the hole but today I looked again and I'm certain the thing she is obsessing over is a rats tail- HUGE!! I've filled in the hole 
Both my neighbours have chickens so there will be rats around, but I don't want them living in my garden. And now I'm remembering that when I was doing some planting around there in the summer I dug to a ginormous hole (so big I thought it would go down to the centre of the earth for a second
. So possibly a rat tunnel? Burrow?
My bird feeder is near there. I think I'm going to move the feeders to the front for a bit? Also it's prompted me to start getting quotes to get my rotting decking replaced with a stone patio .
Will they go away if I don't feed the birds ? Do you think they've been poisoned hence the dead rat ? I don't want to lay poison because of the dog . Or because of the chickens next door is it just a fact of life they will be in my garden? I have a compost but it's one of those green sealed hotbin type ones with no access at the bottom .