Slugs and snails, beetles, bugs and creepy-crawlies in wildlife gardens

What are slugs and snails good for? ardeners often get hot under the collar when their food crops are decimated by slugs and snails, but the fact is that every creature has a place in the natural scheme of things. You may not care much for slugs and snails, but research suggests that creatures such as lizards, slow worms, grass snakes, hedgehogs, ground beetles, toads, some frogs, thrushes and crows regard them as a tasty morsel, so refrain from using pellets.

Black Slug (UK) European Black Slug (USA)

Size – 13–18 cm (5–7 in) long.
Appearance – Colours vary from black through to red, white and orange; has a distinctive saddle shape with a nostril hole to one side.
Comments – Eats garden crops but prefers rotting vegetation, manure and compost heap materials. The more compost heaps you have, the less chance that the slugs will attack your crops.

Deroceras reticulatumField Slug

Size – 2.5–5 cm (1–2 in) long.
Appearance – Grey-fawn in colour with black-brown fleck markings; has a ridge along the back.
Comments – Lives in damp farmland and gardens, and eats everything from lettuce to potatoes.

Two slugs mating – the white blob is their genitalia. Note the off-centre nostril hole at the side of the head saddle.

A well-fed, healthy snail can live for up to three years – note the skirt- or sucker-like feet that grip close to the ground.

Snails

Balea perversaTree Snail

Size – 9 mm (⅜ in) long.
Appearance – Very small, with a long, narrow, cornucopia-shaped shell.
Comments – Lives under the bark of trees. Tree snails come in many colours, depending upon their food and habitat.

Cepaea hortensisWhite-lipped Snail

Size – 15 mm (⅝ in) long.
Appearance – Has a bright white-yellow shell with darker yellow-brown markings.
Comments – Lives in a range of habitats, including woods and hedges. In small, enclosed, high-walled gardens, the colour of the snail’s shell will reflect the colour of the walls.

Helix aspersaGarden Snail

Size – 3.5 cm (1½ in) long.
Appearance – Has a wrinkled shell with brown, fawn and cream markings.
Comments – Lives for 2–3 years, and is eaten by many wild birds; very common in enclosed gardens. The colour and the number of bands relates to the food, habitat and age of the snail.

Helix pomatiaRoman Snail

Size – 3 cm (1¼ in) long.
Appearance – Has a wrinkled shell with creamy markings.
Comments – Favoured by Romans as a delicacy, hence the common name; lives in chalky areas and is now a rare and protected species.

POINTS TO CONSIDER

• If you kill slugs with chemicals, you will indirectly kill wildlife higher up the food chain. Research confirms that slug pellets kill creatures such as hedgehogs and birds.

• You could search around for reports that list known slug-eating creatures, and you could positively encourage these creatures onto your patch. For example, you could build log piles to give home to creatures like hedgehogs.

• Research suggests that the tree snail travels the world by sticking to the underside of the wings of migratory birds.

• Many common snail species are edible. If you are going to eat your snails, make sure they have not come into contact with any chemicals. To do this, catch them and feed them for a week or so, until any toxins have gone through their systems.

• Although snails are hermaphrodite – meaning they are both male and female – they still need to mate with another snail.

• The very fact that snail breeders have to proactively protect their snails against mice, shrews and birds suggests that garden snails do have predators and will attract wildlife.

• If you do have a lot of snails on your plot, to the extent that you think that you need to eat them before they eat your garden, you need to make sure that they are not protected.

• Observation and folklore indicate that some birds have learnt to break open the shells not only by beating them on stones but also by dropping them from a good height.


• The best way to eat snails is to fry them with butter and lots of garlic, and serve with home-made brown bread

Beeetles, bugs and creepy-crawliesMust I learn to love them?

it is not easy to love creatures that variously scavenge, eat dead organic matter, sting, suck fluids through syringe-like mouthparts, give off strange smells, and generally slurp and munch their way right through your garden. Instead, try to see them as a means to an end, so that, when you are faced with ‘pests’ such as aphids, you simply identify their natural enemies and proactively invite them in for a feast. Here are some common beetles, bugs and creepy-crawlies.

Agriotes lineatus(Click Beetle)

12 mm (½ in) long; larvae are known as ‘wireworms’ and adults sometimes as ‘flip’ beetles; eats garden plants; larvae are eaten by hedgehogs, mice and bugs.

Anthonomus pomorum(Apple Blossom Weevil)

6 mm (¼ in) long; feeds on buds in early spring. Natural enemies include parasitic wasps.

Blennocampa phyllocolpa(Rose Sawfly)

18 mm (¾ in) long; larvae feed on leaves and are important food for a range of birds, small mammals and insects.

Chorthippus brunneus(Grasshopper)

18 mm (¾ in) long; feeds on grasses and various plants; important food for birds, toads, snakes and mammals.

Chrysopa carnea(Lacewing)

3 cm (1¼ in) long; feeds on nectar, aphids and some soft-bodied larvae; is itself food for birds, mammals and bugs.

Cicadella viridis(Green Leafhopper)

6 mm (¼ in) long; jumps from plant to plant; thousands of types; eats sap from grasses and similar plants; important food for birds, lizards, spiders and bugs.

Adalia bipunctata(Two-spot Ladybird)

6 mm (¼ in) long; eats other creatures, including aphids; important food for beetles, bugs and some birds.

Contarinia pyrivora(Pear Midge)

3 mm (⅛ in) long; larvae eat the fruit of the pear tree; important food for all manner of other insects and birds.

Crioceris asparagi(Asparagus Beetle)

12 mm (½ in) long; feeds on foliage; larvae are food for birds and mice.

Delia radicum(Cabbage Root Fly)

9 mm (⅜ in) long; larvae feed on roots and are an important food for beetles.

Lasius niger(Black Ant)

3 mm (⅛ in); eats aphids; food for birds, lizards, snakes, frogs and toads.

Lygocoris pabulinus(Green Capsid Bug)

6 mm (¼ in) long; eats plant juices; eaten by mites and nematodes.

Macrosiphum rosae(Rose Aphid)

3 mm (⅛ in); eats farm and garden plants; important food for ladybirds, ants, other insects and lacewings.

Melolontha melolontha(Cockchafer)

2.5 cm (1 in) long; nocturnal beetle, sometimes called a ‘maybug’; eats crops and trees; important food for bats, mice, lizards, snakes and birds.

Merodon equestris(Narcissus Bulb Fly)

12 mm (½ in) long; looks like a small bee; larvae eat bulbs and roots and are eaten by birds, small mammals and flies.

Oniscus asellus(Woodlouse)

12 mm (½ in) long; eats dead and dying wood and plant matter; food for hedgehogs, lizards, owls, foxes, toads, frogs.

Phyllotretaspp. (Flea Beetles)

1.5 mm ( in) long; eats farm and garden plants; natural predators include
parasitic nematodes.

Syrphus ribesii(Hoverfly)

12 mm (½ in) long; eats vast numbers of aphids; important food for birds, small mammals and insects.

Blaniulus guttulatus(Spotted Snake Millipede)

3 cm (1¼ in) long; feeds on dead leaves and roots; food for small mammals such as moles and mice.

Tipula paludosa(Cranefly)

18 mm (¾ in) long; also known as ‘daddylonglegs’ larvae or ‘leatherjackets’ eat plant roots; important food for lizards, toads and birds.

Forficula auricularia(Common Earwig)

9–15 mm (⅜–⅝ in) long; the name comes from the folklore that earwigs sometimes burrow down into the ears of humans to lay their eggs; they eat insects and plants such as clover, lettuce and plums.