Ken writes:
I found a rat’s nest while turning over the compost this afternoon. There were seven little hairless and helpless whelps inside. They looked like this.
I drowned them all and I do actually feel quite bad about it. Later while taking some more scraps out to the compost bin I surprised the mother or father investigating the ruins of her/his nest. It’s pretty awful. I hope the rats decide our garden is not a safe place to raise children and move on.
Ken and Dot's Allsorts 
I know the feeling – believe me it is worse to have to finish off a bird the cats couldn’t be bothered too.
or rather to.
I’m not sure – at least in the case of the bird it’s a mercy killing. In the case of the rats it’s just a question of not wanting the garden overrun by rats. Maybe we should get a cat as a sort of moral buffer.
I remember Tilly (cat) finding a mouse’s nest under a stone, tapping it and catching the succession of tiny mice which emerged. Again, I wasn’t sure I was happy to get her do it, but didn’t want masses of mice near the house.
Getting a cat could be a good idea. I’ve had the chicken feed in sacks in the house for the past 6 months and had no trouble, despite the rats and mice that enjoy the hospitality of my cat-free neighbours. Lizzie brings in baby mice and birds on a regular basis. I grab the bird from her and take it to recover on the nearest tree. In the case of mice I cravenly look away until she has dispatched them.