slugs and snails and puppy dog’s tails

common snail on the stem of cow parsley

The recent wet weather has been very trying and I think it is safe to say that everyone is sick of it. I don’t think we’ve had the barbecue out once this summer and even if we don’t manage that, we eat outside most evenings. I think we did that once back in May.

yellow and striped snails on a poplar trunk

It is evident when you are out and about though that not all creatures great and small are as fed up of this wet and rain as we are……

There are slugs and snails absolutely everywhere.

We were walking at the weekend and not only are all the trees, grasses and flowers crawling with them but they are all over the paths and tracks too.

it’s a long way down

I’m sure we don’t see them as much when we get a proper summer because they are staying safe under cover from the sun in a nice moist recess somewhere. I’m also sure that many of them don’t survive a normal summer.

Ironically they are ‘making hay while the sun shines’.

room for a small one

We’ve seen them in every shape and colour and although I dislike them intensely when they are chomping on my veg patch, in the open countryside they are quite interesting and have a beauty all of their own.

striped snail

The ones I like the most are the yellow ones. They remind me of a lovely holiday in Brittany when I collected lots and lots of tiny empty yellow sea shells off the beach and brought them home. They sit in a vase on the shelf in our bathroom along with a load of others collected from around the world.

I’m not sure snail shells will be getting added any time soon…….

monster slug

I am reliably informed that the common snail makes half decent eating but it needs to be left in a bucket of spinach overnight to dine on which adds some flavour. I think I could feed the five thousand if I collected all the fat juicy ones I have seen over the last 2 days but I’m not sure if I want to try.

even more of a monster

I’m all for foraging and food for free but I might have to have a long hard think before adding snails to the list of what I am happy to chomp on.