Just cleared an overgrown garden section revealing two straggly flower carpet roses. Can I prune them now in February?

Hi John, yes, you can prune these bush roses in autumn, if the weather stays mild you may get another flush of growth and flowers before winter. Having said that, care needs to be taken if you are in an area that experiences early or hard frosts, that you don't prune too late into autumn as the new growth won't have had time to harden off and could potentially damage the new growth, this can then lead to disease infecting the plant. The roses look relatively sheltered where they are planted so you should be okay to cut the long stems back and tidy the plants up now, then give a harder prune in winter when the roses are dormant.