Fennel seedheads

I meant to clear these away months ago, before they dropped their seeds. Looks like I will have a garden full of bronze fennel...again!
I'm also a bit disturbed to find that while I have been away there has been rat activity again, around my outbuilding. It/they have chewed through the foot pedal cable of my sewing machine. I can also see where they have dug in from outside. Last year they were after the dropped food from the bird feeders. The year before, they chewed through a heating pipe in the outbuilding.