Whenever snails are mentioned most people screw up their faces and say urgh!

To the naturalist, however, snails are fascinating creatures and are not just ‘a heap of slime in a shell’. Because of their lack of speed snails are easy to study and around 80 species occur in Britain.

Around 20 species are very common in the parks and gardens of East Lancashire. And, because digital cameras are now so good, it is easy to build up a collation of photographs.

The common or garden snail has a shell with four or five whirls or bands and these show up quite dark with most of the shell still being light brown, but the colour does vary according to the diet.

Snails are vegetarian and are therefore no friend of the gardener. Untidy gardeners probably are less subject to snail damage because these molluscs prefer to eat rotting vegetation because it is more easily digested. So leaving a few leaves lying about may well be more economic then spending money on chemicals. It is easy for me to say that because I am an untidy gardener!

The sex life of the snail is strange to say the least. They are hermaphrodites which means they have both male and female organs.

Two snails lie close together and exchange sperm but they do this in a very strange way.

They fire sharp bullet-like structures full of sperm which penetrate the body and fertilise the eggs.

Next time you see a snail don’t think France and garlic but marvel at just another of nature’s wonderful secrets!