Posted by Dick Chambers on July 4, 2007, 7:39 pm
I have lived in the same house in Leeds for the last 33 years. During the
first 27 (approximately) of these years, I hardly ever saw a snail, although
I did have a large number of slugs. During the last 6 (approx) years, there
has been a dramatic increase in the number of snails. On a wet evening after
dark, if I go to post a letter in the local mail box, my feet inadvertently
crunch a snail every tenth step, on average. I have just removed and killed
about 50 of them from my bed of petunias, the bed being a mere 5 square
metres in area. The snails are thick on the ground. It ihas reached the
point where I would describe it as a plague.
Is this problem local to Leeds, or has there been the same problem
throughout the UK? What has caused the sudden increase in their population?
I do not accept "global warming" as an answer -- far too easy, facile, and
probably wrong. With global warming, Leeds nowadays has the same climate as
Berkshire did 35 years ago when I lived there. Berkshire in 1972 did not
have the plague of snails I am experiencing here in Leeds in 2007.
Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
Posted by Emrys Davies on July 4, 2007, 8:06 pm
> I have lived in the same house in Leeds for the last 33 years. During
the
> first 27 (approximately) of these years, I hardly ever saw a snail,
although
> I did have a large number of slugs. During the last 6 (approx) years,
there
> has been a dramatic increase in the number of snails. On a wet evening
after
> dark, if I go to post a letter in the local mail box, my feet
inadvertently
> crunch a snail every tenth step, on average. I have just removed and
killed
> about 50 of them from my bed of petunias, the bed being a mere 5
square
> metres in area. The snails are thick on the ground. It ihas reached
the
> point where I would describe it as a plague.
> Is this problem local to Leeds, or has there been the same problem
> throughout the UK? What has caused the sudden increase in their
population?
> I do not accept "global warming" as an answer -- far too easy, facile,
and
> probably wrong. With global warming, Leeds nowadays has the same
climate as
> Berkshire did 35 years ago when I lived there. Berkshire in 1972 did
not
> have the plague of snails I am experiencing here in Leeds in 2007.
> Richard Chambers Leeds UK.
Their prominence is probably due to the favourable weather conditions
which they are experiencing. This site http://tinyurl.com/2mxdt8
explains this theory more fully.
Regards,
Emrys Davies.
Posted by Anne Jackson on July 4, 2007, 9:01 pm
contains these words:
> I have lived in the same house in Leeds for the last 33 years. During the
> first 27 (approximately) of these years, I hardly ever saw a snail, although
> I did have a large number of slugs. During the last 6 (approx) years, there
> has been a dramatic increase in the number of snails. On a wet evening after
> dark, if I go to post a letter in the local mail box, my feet inadvertently
> crunch a snail every tenth step, on average. I have just removed and killed
> about 50 of them from my bed of petunias, the bed being a mere 5 square
> metres in area. The snails are thick on the ground. It ihas reached the
> point where I would describe it as a plague.
> Is this problem local to Leeds, or has there been the same problem
> throughout the UK? What has caused the sudden increase in their population?
> I do not accept "global warming" as an answer -- far too easy, facile, and
> probably wrong. With global warming, Leeds nowadays has the same climate as
> Berkshire did 35 years ago when I lived there. Berkshire in 1972 did not
> have the plague of snails I am experiencing here in Leeds in 2007.
I have the same problem here, in Perth. I put it down to the much milder
winters and the lack of thrushes in my garden. We used to have lots of
thrushes, now we have none.
--
AnneJ
If you don't quit, and don't cheat, and don't run home
when trouble arrives, you can only win.
~Shelley Long
Posted by Charlie Pridham on July 5, 2007, 3:49 am
> contains these words:
> > I have lived in the same house in Leeds for the last 33 years. During
the
> > first 27 (approximately) of these years, I hardly ever saw a snail,
although
> > I did have a large number of slugs. During the last 6 (approx) years,
there
> > has been a dramatic increase in the number of snails. On a wet evening
after
> > dark, if I go to post a letter in the local mail box, my feet
inadvertently
> > crunch a snail every tenth step, on average. I have just removed and
killed
> > about 50 of them from my bed of petunias, the bed being a mere 5 square
> > metres in area. The snails are thick on the ground. It ihas reached the
> > point where I would describe it as a plague.
> > Is this problem local to Leeds, or has there been the same problem
> > throughout the UK? What has caused the sudden increase in their
population?
> > I do not accept "global warming" as an answer -- far too easy, facile,
and
> > probably wrong. With global warming, Leeds nowadays has the same climate
as
> > Berkshire did 35 years ago when I lived there. Berkshire in 1972 did not
> > have the plague of snails I am experiencing here in Leeds in 2007.
> I have the same problem here, in Perth. I put it down to the much milder
> winters and the lack of thrushes in my garden. We used to have lots of
> thrushes, now we have none.
> --
> AnneJ
It can be something as simple as your local authority being better at rat
control, rats in country/garden situations spend the winter hunting down
hibernating snails and eating them, they consume very large numbers and so
in spring you start from a low level, these days song thrushes appear much
in decline a local vet pathologist tells me a combination of slug pellets
and cats are responsible, we have both occasional slug pellets and cats but
still have thrushes so I don't know!
--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and
Lapageria rosea
Posted by Alan on July 5, 2007, 11:37 am
>It can be something as simple as your local authority being better at rat
>control,
It will be irresponsible cat owners allowing their 'pets' to roam and
destroying the local bird population.
--
Alan
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the
> first 27 (approximately) of these years, I hardly ever saw a snail,