Snails Pace

Way back on 14th June, I got the boys to collect a handful of snails in the garden so that we could paint them with dayglo nail varnish (courtesy of Isabelle) and track their movements about the garden. The first part of the plan was straightforward, and we marked up four (two bigish, two smallish).



Imaginatively named Orange-stripe, Yellow-stripe, Orange-spot, Pink-spot. We let them loose at the same spot, and I told the boys to have a look for them the next day after school. They duly did - no sign. I had a look - no sign. In fact, I saw nothing of them for a week or so, even checking at night when looking at the traps, and then we forgot all about them.

Last night, whilst checking the sugar with torch and camera to hand, I had a look around the garden to see if I could find anything else to snap using the flash-macro method. Bugger me - there in the middle of the lawn was Orange-stripe.



Sixty days later and it was c4M from where it had been released. Conclusive proof that snails are slow and sedentary? Or elusive? At least it proves that a dayglo stripe on its shell does not decrease its survival chances against the Thrushes!