Way back in 2010 I spent some time
Geocaching in the wheat farming district of South Australia near Cleve. There,
on a fence that separates the Airport Runway from the towns Cemetery
(possibly a scary sight as your plane comes in to land) I found this interesting
grouping of feral snails.
They gather like this during rainy times,
the ones at the bottom of the pile cemented there by the ones over the top. After
the wet weather the top snails leave to eat and breed while the ones underneath
no doubt die a horrible death during the
very hot Summer.
Gardner's have been known to scrape the shells off into buckets to mix into
potting soil as a Liming and water holding agent.
*Groups of introduced snails aestivating at the top of fence posts at Cleve, South
Australia. (As can be seen in the detail image, the
groups are mostly composed of the white garden snail Theba pisana, with
some smaller individuals of the pointed snail, Cochlicella acuta.) *this
bit nicked from wikipedia.org
.
8 comments:
Were they singing "Shell we gather by the fence post"?
What a tale of a snail.
That's a LOT of snails! and they're quite pretty to look at, but they're a nuisance to farmers and gardens everywhere.
Hi Symdaddy, No mate they were singing 'Shell be coming Round The Corner When She Comes...'
Hi TSB, a tale of many hundreds of snails, many thousands...millions
Hi River, They get caught up in harvesting equipment, they make grain unsaleable when they are in it. and of course that many snail must eat a lot of plants
I have to say that the last photo is one of my all time faves. I love looking at the detail of all those tiny shells
Great photos Tempo - never seen so many snails in my life :)
WOW! I thought the snails in my yard were bad! It is nothing compared to this!
Post a Comment