Scientists have identified a brand new species of large garden snail, discovered in a garden in Wales, which they are dubbing one of the most significant additions to garden flora and fauna in 50 years.
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Ray Fielding, the owner of the garden in Eryri (Snowdonia), came across the snail when clearing his garden after winter and noticing the last of his leeks, purple sprouting broccoli and cabbages had been eaten. The new snail is remarkable for its significant size and weight, and for its impressive ability to nibble through wood.
Although it hasn't been formally identified as a new species yet, experts are amazed at the size of the new snail, which is larger than has ever been found in the UK. It measures 20 cm long, with a shell height of 9cm. Ray is convinced the snail was hatched following the disappearance of one of his Giant African land snails, which he keeps in his home as pets.
"One of my lovely giant African snails managed to escape from her container in autumn 2023. I spent a whole week looking for her with no luck before I gave up," said Ray. "I think she managed to get out into the garden and found a large mate."
People's plants will never be safe
As well as causing a glut of plant diseases in gardens, the very wet weather experienced across the country last year has created the perfect environment for molluscs - the group of animals that include snails and slugs. It is thought that the ideal conditions have meant snails have thrived, which may be one of the reasons why this new snail has emerged.
Most terrestrial gastropod molluscs have both female and male reproductive organs, but there are some exceptions. Snails can produce up to six batches of eggs in a single year, and each snail will lay around 80 eggs, which will hatch around two weeks later. This means there are likely to be many more of these large snails in or around the vicinity of Ray's garden. Their large size also means they move exceptionally fast when compared to our usual garden snails. Experts expect the snails to be appearing in gardens throughout the UK very soon.
This size of snail has never been seen on these shores before
Susie Tress, head of molluscs at the department of horticulture at the University of Wales, said the discovery was amazing: "This size of snail has never been seen on these shores before. It is an amazing discovery, which may mean gardeners have to rethink how they protect their plants from slugs and snails in the future. If we have created a huge hybridised snail, that can eat through wood, then people's plants will never be safe."
The RHS and the Wildlife Trusts recently announced a new campaign to try to get people to love their molluscs, and rethink how they see snails and slugs in the garden.
Claire Escargot from the RHS said: "If you think about it, one snail this size could feed an entire banditry of blue tits. So in fact, rather than panicking about whether the large snails are going to eat through your cabbages or skirting boards, just imagine how happy the birds are going to be."
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