02 Thursday Nov 2023
Posted in molluscs
When I first spotted this Holly leaf, I thought some new-to-me leafminer had been busy devouring it.
Then I turned the leaf over. The culprit, as you can see, was this little snail. And a little more leaf-turning revealed several more small snails, on various shrubs and trees, not something I expected to see. I assumed snails mostly lived closer to the ground but obviously not.
02 Thursday Mar 2023
Tags
British snails, British sprngtails, Clausilia bidentata, life on a seepage, Monobella grassei, snail, springtail, stone seepage, Two-toothed door snail
On one side of a local railway station there is a huge stone embankment, perhaps 50 feet tall, that was probably constructed in the 1880s (the platforms were opened in 1888). I walked along the path next to this embankment a couple of days ago and couldn’t help but notice several areas where moisture was seeping from between the stone blocks. When I looked more closely at these seepages, I was amazed by how much life they were supporting – an intriguing habitat in miniature.
As well as a variety of mosses and lichens, I found four miniscule springtails, which I think are Monobella grassei, a new species for me, though my identification hasn’t yet been validated.
There was also a stunning little snail, covered in grooves that are actually growth lines. Again, its identity has yet to be confirmed, but I think this is probably a Two-toothed door snail (Clausilia bidentata). The Naturespot website reports that it can often be found hiding in cracks in rocks and that it ’emerges in damp weather and at night and climbs high up on bare surfaces to graze on algae and lichens’, which is exactly what this one was doing.
12 Saturday Feb 2022
The secrets of life for over-wintering snails:
1) find a friend, or twenty, to huddle with
2) create a mucus seal around your shell opening to conserve moisture
3) slow down your metabolism and snooze.
19 Wednesday Jan 2022
Posted in molluscs
Snails are much more difficult to identify than you might imagine, especially when you don’t – as I didn’t – examine all the relevant parts of the shell that help with identification. The opening of the shell, for example, often holds key features. In this particular case, I was happy just to watch this tiny creature going about its daily life.
04 Tuesday Apr 2017
Finally, two snails that realise how much I struggle to put a name to them, and so make it easy for me. Meet William and Peggy!
02 Monday May 2016
Posted in nature
To grass, or leaf, or fruit, or wall,
The snail sticks close, nor fears to fall,
As if he grew there, house and all
Together.
Within that house secure he hides,
When danger imminent betides
Of storm, or other harm besides
Of weather.
Give but his horns the slightest touch,
His self-collecting power is such,
He shrinks into his house, with much
Displeasure.
Where’er he dwells, he dwells alone,
Except himself has chattels none,
Well satisfied to be his own
Whole treasure.
Thus, hermit-like, his life he leads,
Nor partner of his banquet needs,
And if he meets one, only feeds
The faster.
Who seeks him must be worse than blind,
(He and his house are so combin’d)
If, finding it, he fails to find
Its master.
By William Cowper, 1731 – 1800
earthstar 
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