Readers have responded to an article about a rat problem in Boughton with one supplying photos of a cheeky rodent nicknamed ‘Reginald Rat’ pinching food from his bird feeder.
David Wyke lives in Boughton Hall Drive by the canal, away from the main sightings, but just before Christmas he managed to snap eight-inch long ‘Reggie’ performing acrobatic feats.
David and wife Lesley haven’t seen many rats at their address over 40 years but Reggie is becoming a regular visitor – and a second rat has since been spotted.
Retired insurance salesman David, a grandfather, joked: “We have named him Reginald. We thought it was more upmarket. We call him ‘Reggie Rat’ for short.”
The couple have a King Charles Cavalier Barney but David says he isn’t much of a deterrent and ‘just sits there’.
David is not too worried about the vermin but has installed mesh to prevent rats nesting under the summer house. If the problem develops he will consider using humane traps to capture the rats and release them in the countryside.
And he is going to fit the bird feeder with the cone Barney once wore when he had an ear infection in a bid to prevent Reggie making his ascent while allowing birds to still access the fat balls.
“This one’s clever,” said David, who in all seriousness has sympathy with other residents where the vermin problem is much worse.
Commenting on a letter from another reader, he said: “The poor bloke sounds like he’s running up the wall and the council don’t seem to be doing anything.”
That reader, Dave Vicars, of Edge Grove, Boughton, told The Chronicle the rat infestation was due to the Victorian sewer system and disturbances caused by recent work carried out by Network Rail when they dug up an embankment.
He said: “The residents’ committee is looking at various ways and alternatives to poison such as ferrets, traps, minks, terriers or shooting. Also, Cheshire West and Chester Council offered to come out and bait my backyard for a fee of £25 which I declined because what do we pay our council tax for!”
Mr Vicars claims the council has still not delivered on a commitment to supply wheelie bins in the neighbourhood, instead of plastic sacks, which he believes would ease the situation.
