Snail Hunt at Denso Marston Nature Reserve

On Sunday 23 Sept Erica and I went down to Denso Nature Reserve in search of snails for some course work Erica is doing for here OU Degree.

If you know the proper names for any of these things please let me know. I will be editing as I find out more. Note that the text tends to refer to the image below it.

For the first few minutes we could see nothing and were getting a bit concerned but then our eyes got used to looking and this blog is about some of the things we found. And again I have uploaded them the wrong way round. (Note to self: Most recent top left. First/oldest bottom right when sorting on Flickr upload.)

The tall nettles were absolutely teeming with life, starting with a 2 Spot Ladybird which I have stitched together with another shot where the Ladybird was out-of-focus but not until later did I notice the almost in-focus Aphid – and look at the size of it!!

Please help with the Ids – at the moment this is: A Fly.

Nettle Tap (Anthophila fabriciana) Moth approx 8mm.

Thanks to @ScrarbyLee for the ID and link

I recognised this as a Green Shield Bug but initially assumed that the other similar bugs were different species. If I am right in my reading then they are all the same species (Palomena prasina) but at different stages in their life called Instars.

This is a final (5th?) Instar nymph of the Green Shield Bug (Palomena prasina)

4th Instar nymph of the Green Shield Bug (Palomena prasina)

We now get on to the Snails. The ones with this shaped shell were really speedy. They slid along much quicker than any of the others. They do look a bit streamlined. I am going to rely on Erica telling me which is which and filling in the blanks.

Amber snail, probably Succinea putris. Thanks Erica.

Cepaea hortensis – white-lipped snail. Thanks Erica.

I think this is the alien girdled snail, Hygromia cinctella. Introduced in the 50s, it was still only really in Dorset in the 80s. This is about as far North as they’ve been found. You can’t see the distinctive white band around the sharp keel here. Thanks Erica.

Some of them had fur!

Hairy snail, Trochulus hispidus. Thanks Erica

After collecting for a few minutes Erica did some sorting. Different types of snails were put together in different pots.

The big one on the left is a Kentish snail, usually SE England. Monacha cantiana. Thanks Erica.

Lots of Cepaea hortensis, white-lipped snails. There are pink, brown and yellow ones, with and without stripes. Thanks Erica.

These (below) are the speedy ones. Amber snails. Thanks Erica.

Hygromia cinctella. Thanks Erica.

Various, including Kentish, Strawberry and Hairy. Thanks Erica

Kentish snail, Monacha cantiana. Thanks Erica.

This one, with its shell almost transparent, was the smallest we found. Garlic snail. Thanks Erica

All of the snails above were collected on or around nettles. We then had a look in amongst some of the trees. The snails we found were of different species but they were all empty shells.

Cornu aspersum (common garden snail) on left, Arianta arbustorum (copse snail) on right. Probably eaten by thrushes. Thanks Erica.