Snail Graveyard

Garden Snail, Helix aspersa, near Leaves Green, 15 December 2012.

All the signs are that this is not a lucky place for a snail to rest. 

Hide and Seek

Silver-washed Fritillary, Argynnis paphia, at the top of a Buddliea.  High Elms Country Park, 2 August 2012.

This Buddleia is often a great spot to find butterflies, as well as other interesting insects; they all come to feed on this abundant source of nectar.  But today, I saw none, until one Silver-washed Fritillary came along.  But all it wanted to do was rest at a height.

Garden snails, Helix aspersa,  in daytime, high up in a Buddleia.  High Elms Country Park, 2 August 2012.

But there were some invertebrates high in the bush.  Not insects, though!  These snails often find high places to rest during the day.  They find a flattish surface and stick to it, and seal off their shells with dried slime to keep themselves moist.

An Unusual Snail

Plaited Door Snail, Cochlodina laminata.  High Elms Country Park, 21 July 2012.

I was looking at some unusual plants in the woods at High Elms Country Park when I saw this snail shell apparently attached to one of them.  It seemed unusual, being much longer than it is wide, looking more like a seashell than something belonging to a land snail.  It's not rare, but if you don't look for it you are unlikely to see it.

Here is it in the palm of my hand.  You can see it is quite small.  But when I waited to see if anything was still living in the shell, I found that its owner was smaller still.

The Plaited Door Snail comes out of its shell.    High Elms Country Park, 21 July 2012.

First it pushed out the front and back ends of the part that you eventually see, then the middle squeezed out.  It spread out lengthways and at the same time the eyes appeared on their stalks.  Then it was ready to roll.

What a tiny creature to have such a shell!  Apparently this snail lives on algae, small fungi and decaying wood, usually on the ground in leaf litter.  In humid weather it climbs trees, though that was not where I found it.   If it has to pull that shell up trees it must be quite strong.

The Plaited Door Snail walks away.    High Elms Country Park, 21 July 2012. 

After photographing it I put it back on the plant where I found it.

In these woods you can also find the Roman Snail, which is huge in comparison.

Slug and Snail

A slug and a snail in my back garden in Hayes on 8 September 2011.

To get a good look at the slugs and snails that live in your garden, leave a piece of squashy fruit out on a wet night. These were attracted to a piece of mango, the bit that surrounds the large stone in the middle. After a couple of nights, the stone was cleaned off quite thoroughly.

I do not know their species, though I think the slug is a Garden Slug, Arion hortensis. But they have a delicate beauty, particularly the snail, with its varicoloured shell and those grey streaks that lead from its eye-stalks down along its body.