Hodmedod Helices (Snail Scale)

I went out with the camera after six knowing that a storm was brewing hoping to capture a rainbow or the electric light that follows an electric storm. I achieved both and got soaked to the skin.

As I was leaving Amwell Nature Reserve I noticed a Roman snail, I've seen them there before. Last time I togged one I hadn't included anything to show the scale. It was accompanied by lots of other snails so I lined these up to show how much bigger the Helix pomatia is than the Helix aspersa, the common garden snail next to it. They're both bigger than the Cepaea, banded snails in my pic.

Though edible, it's an escargot, the Roman snail, thought to have been introduced by the Romans, is so rare that it is legally protected.

Hodmedod is the local name for snail in Suffolk and Essex.