Celebrating life

By DeeS

Mobile home

The slime trail
Shows where he's been
Now he's heading
For a fresh leaf
And all the while
His home goes with him.


I've been trying to photograph a beautiful white butterfly with yellow/orange tips on its wings but it simply won't alight on a flower or leaf for long enough. This little snail on my honeysuckle came to my rescue.

I like the patterning on his shell and his constant sensing of what's around him. I loathe the damage they do to the garden but you can't help but admire them. They're hermaphrodites, so can either mate with themselves or with a partner. When it's dry, snails retreat into their shell and seal the entrance and can survive in a state of suspended animation for several months. The horrifying thing is that each garden snail can have 430 babies a year!

Trying to find out about its anatomy, I came across this great website SnailWorld - though sadly the relevant section was covered by an irritating Google ad, so I'm no wiser.

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