Xciting New Research?Radio Newcastle (1 Viewer)

It has just come to me Brian why you have this obsession for knowledge of snails!

The Magic Roundabout!

Snails??
Hi Brian & All,
Snails? that's so funny and sad to admit "interesting"!!
What a great thread Brian, could this be the start of The Hatless Snailer ?? Eek!

Andy Your supermarket beer antics are hilarious!

The Magic Roundabout. Oh I was a mere youngster in the sixties and not really into it. Just coming out of my shell then Pam.

Glad you have found this informative and lively thread Pie. When I get the chance I shall delve a little more into the world of snails and do a little up date. It is so good to see the amount of interest this has stirred up in the hearts of people. Please feel free to share more snail info in this thread friends.

Cheers

Other interesting facts.

There are approx 90 species of terrestrial snail in the UK. Some are naturally resident and some introduced.

There has been no extinction of a natural British snail in the last 5,000 years.

90 Species?? Oh for goodness sake, do we really need all that goo? LOL!

O.K. then, did you know that the mating couple lay up to 40 eggs each?
Me neither, but it's good to know some chaps share the burden of childbirth. |;|

pie said:

90 Species?? Oh for goodness sake, do we really need all that goo? LOL!

O.K. then, did you know that the mating couple lay up to 40 eggs each?
Me neither, but it's good to know some chaps share the burden of childbirth. |;|

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I was going to take a good look at reproduction later. Tis very interesting. I see your ahead of the game with this Pie. Very good!

pie said:

90 Species?? Oh for goodness sake, do we really need all that goo? LOL!

O.K. then, did you know that the mating couple lay up to 40 eggs each?
Me neither, but it's good to know some chaps share the burden of childbirth. |;|

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Ha ha! I like that fact Pie :clap:

I have heard it said that if you mark your garden snails with a drop of paint then release them some where else thay will return to your garden. Any one tried this or is it an old wives tail.?

brianfm said:

I'm pleased my snail post has raised so much interest although I suspect one or two guys just want to get in on my alcohol research plan!!

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Would we ever Brian...well if you insist then ok!!

To be honest though I haven't had a snail in my garden for years. Not since a young Hedgehog took up residence in an old compost heap. Haven't seen sight or sign of him yet this year but the weather has been wet and cold lately. He's been my natural slug and snail defender so I'd hate to think he's moved on..

dafi said:

I have heard it said that if you mark your garden snails with a drop of paint then release them some where else thay will return to your garden. Any one tried this or is it an old wives tail.?

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Not tried it..........yet dafi. I assume you can mark them with anything and not just paint. Lol I may tag em!!!

I have a Hedghog too Ray. He/she was out in January during a warm spell, during the BGBW in fact, but not seen him/her recently. I hope he/she does not gobble up all my snails I have lined up for research purposes.

dafi said:

I have heard it said that if you mark your garden snails with a drop of paint then release them some where else thay will return to your garden. Any one tried this or is it an old wives tail.?

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I often meant to try it on my snails when I lived at Whitley Bay but never actually got around to it. They ARE supposed to have quite a good homing instinct though so if you lob them over the fence into the neighbour's garden they'll just climb back over the fence and be back where you found them within a day or two :-O

We lived in a ground-floor flat approx 100 yards from the sea front and had a tiny front garden which was 12ft X 15ft. I love to grow cottage garden type flowers to attract bees, butterflies etc but the one flower the snails seemed to love more than any other was the small French Marigolds *Tagetes* I once spent over £15 on trays of young plants to put in to attract hoverflies etc so they would naturally keep my aphids in check and spent a whole afternoon planting them out and carefully watering them in. Woke up next morning, went out to look at my flowers and all I had left was STUMPS covered in slime!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :eek!: The snails had eaten EVERY single Tagetes!!!!!! :storm: I called them a few choice words I can tell you!!!!
BUT I didn't harm my snails as they are all part of a natural order - I just looked upon them as a challenge! I stuck to growing plants which they weren't too bothered about and put my Tagetes up a height in hanging baskets where the snails couldn't reach!!!
I DID collect a few snails up in an empty ice cream container though and remove them to a field overlooking Cullercoats Bay and made a note in my diary of how many I moved. Can you guess how many I moved in just one summer from my tiny postage stamp of a garden? 358 :eek!: :eek!: :eek!: I would not have believed it myself if I hadn't been keeping a count in the diary just out of interest!!!

So it's mind boggling just how many you could possibly have in a big garden!

I've got a few snail ornaments around the house too.......my favourite being a stunning carved wooden one which is SO accurate in it's detail! I have it on the window sill where it 'slithers' in and out of my house plant pots! Looks so much like a real snail that visitors often look twice :-O

I have had exactly the same happen after planting marigolds Gill, next morning just stumps in the soil!! Crushed egg shells are quite a good deterrent, but the best is a ring of grit around the plants (especially good for hostas) :t: , the grit can just be blended into the soil once the plants have grown on!

Wednesday evening one of our hedgehogs was out and about so we will hopefully not have too much of a problem with the snails again this year :t:
I put him/her some cat food out that we had kept in readiness for their return :bounce:

Well I've just been to do the weekly shop. Forgot the cheap value lager but didn't forget the bitter.

Sadly I don't think I've got any hedgehogs in my garden at the moment, plenty of places for them to hide so you never know.... well actually you do. I don't have one because yesterday I discovered my delphiniums had been snailed!!!!:-C
Little buggers. I think the delphiniums had only been up about 2 days!

In my front garden though I do have an "anvil" that the thrushes use to bash 7 bells out the the snails.

andy

Gill Osborne said:

I DID collect a few snails up in an empty ice cream container though and remove them to a field overlooking Cullercoats Bay and made a note in my diary of how many I moved. Can you guess how many I moved in just one summer from my tiny postage stamp of a garden? 358 :eek!: :eek!: :eek!: I would not have believed it myself if I hadn't been keeping a count in the diary just out of interest!!!

:-O

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Did you note the species then Gill? Was there more than one type. I want to try and keep this thread scientific.

I have been to Mersehead today. Rather disappointingly I did not find a single snail. Lots of Barnacles though!!!

I'd say 99% were the Common Garden Snail and the other 1% those funny little almost-transparent ones that are smaller than the nail on your little finger ( I read the name of them a few days ago - I'll get back to you on that one LOL)

Are we going to do a Year List of snails in 2007?


Mereshead sounds fab - one year I WILL get there I could have done with those Barnacle Geese for my Year List...haven't had any yet and I'm rapidly running out of weeks.....Spring will soon be upon us and the Geese will be trotting off back to their breeding grounds.

This past week has had the birds really singing their heads off and today I found my first Coltsfoot of the year - always a sign that winter is losing it's grip :clap:

Oh good Gill, that transparent one sounds like Garlic Glass Snail Oxychlus alliarius that I mentione earlier.

Mersehead is one of my favourite reserves. I may get round to doing a post on the visit but I am very wrapped up in snails at present.

brianfm said:

Oh good Gill, that transparent one sounds like Garlic Glass Snail Oxychlus alliarius that I mentioned earlier.

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Perhaps THAT is where I heard the name? Dunno? Though I'm SURE i saw it in a library book.....one of Nick Whatsisname's books about garden wildlife? *i'm sure I'm going senile!!!! I just can't remember anybody's name these days!!!!* Nick BAKER - that's it LOL :t:

I may get round to doing a post on the visit but I am very wrapped up in snails at present.

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:-O You're becoming a Gastropod Connoisseur!!!!!!

No folks these snails will just not go away. As some of you know I have been wrapped up in snails for a week or two and was going to post about snail reproduction, but as this information is in the links I posted I just know you will all have read it anyway. Great stuff wasn't it? So I have decided to bring you the information I have just found in the April edition of the BBC (remember that institution that used to provide a bird board?) Wildlife Magazine. Before going onto that I would just like to thank Gill for her wonderful photograph of the snail (above post) Is that our common garden snail looking so beautiful on the plant Gill? Whats the plant species?

Now, why do snails climb trees? That question is asked in the mag. Well think water. The snotty slime of snails is apparently 99 per cent H20! Snails leak water all the time especially whilst on the move, hence their snotty slimey trails. Even when resting they continue to evaporate from any moist body part (close your eyes and imagine that), and the warmer they get the more water they loose. So the reason they climb trees is to keep themselves cool and moist. Research has shown that those snails off the ground are several degrees cooler than those on the ground. Clustering together also helps to prevent water loss as the group create a humid microclimate around their shell bases. They also cluster together to protect themselves against adverse weather conditions.

Climbing trees has a second plus for your snail as it protects them from ground hunting predators such as Badgers and Hedgehogs. Protection even from the Song Thrush who as you know bashes their shell on rocks to get to their 'soft centre' body. Sounds a bit like me eating a nice gooeey cadburys chocolate! As you all know Song Thrushes tend to hunt on the ground.

Heres an added interesting fact. Mediterranean Snails introduced to Australia also climb and live in barley stalks and are half the size of barley grains. In one year, an estimated 918,000,000 snails were found in one grain silo alone! I wonder if the Aussies are looking for counters? That would be a great way to spend a week or two in a country I would like to visit and just imagine what a thread that would make!!! Think I might look into that.

Yes, fascinating stuff yeah?

Thank you for all the new information on snails Brian. Fascinating stuff! :t:

Although I shall never be able to eat a cadburys Cream Egg again without thinking of your thread, actually I don't think I will ever eat one again!!!

I wonder how much snails evaporate when launched into next doors garden, only joking, only joking!!!

I think you going to Australia to count snails is a brilliant idea!

Pam_m said:

Thank you for all the new information on snails Brian. Fascinating stuff! :t:

Although I shall never be able to eat a cadburys Cream Egg again without thinking of your thread, actually I don't think I will ever eat one again!!!

I wonder how much snails evaporate when launched into next doors garden, only joking, only joking!!!

I think you going to Australia to count snails is a brilliant idea!

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Thank you for your kind comments Pam. I just knew I was correct to have you down as a Snail person! I know you would never dream of chucking a species of Snail into next doors garden. Keep an eye on any nearby trees and see if you can find a cluster of snails and take not eof the species.

Yes Australia sounds good, but I shall not be going until the footy season is over and the boys celebrate their victory!