Slugs

Slugs. The word conjures up images of slime, plants being devoured and all round negativity. People with allotments and gardens may view them as the “enemy” as they can reduce plant or vegetable leaves to stalks and seem to be especially partial to gorging on Hostas. Indeed, certain slugs cause an estimated £8 million worth of damage to agricultural crops each year. The three types which inflict the most damage are the grey field slug, the garden slug and the keel slug. Consequently, they have acquired a bad boy reputation.

image of slug damage to a Hosta (Gardeners Path, 2023)

Slugs are from the Gastropod family which derives from Greek meaning “stomach foot”. In essence, this means that the slug’s foot is on its belly which it uses to move around. To ease its movement, slugs produce a mucus which acts as a lubricant when out and about. The mucus trail is also a navigation aid to help them return to their home tunnel.

There are around 40 species of slug in Britain and only a few can be classed as pests. These gastropods play a vital role in breaking down rotting vegetation and are essential composters. They will eat leaves, flowers, lichens and decaying plant material. Some slugs like Shelled slugs (Testacella) eat mainly worms and sometimes dead slugs while the Leopard slug (Limax Maximus) eats fungi, lichens and live slugs.

image of Leopard Slugs, Limax Maximus (Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, 2016)

Traps containing beer, milk and grape juice are also good at controlling slug numbers. They can also be picked up and taken somewhere else or placed in a compost heap so they can munch their way through that rather than crops or flower beds.

Try and entice some hedgehogs into the garden as they will happily devour all the gastropods they find. Before a hedgehog eats a slug, it first scrapes off the slime as this doesn’t taste too good which seems fair enough. It’s probably best not to use slug pellets in the garden as they contain a poison which seeps into the food chain and kills many animals including the hedgehog.

A newcomer to the British slug scene is the Ghost Slug (Selenochlamys ysbryda) with ysbryda being Welsh for ‘ghost’. The Ghost slug was first discovered in Caerphilly in Wales in 2008 and is believed to have entered the country through imported soil or plants from its native Ukraine. As such it is classed as a “non-native” species having been introduced by humans.

image of the Ghost Slug, Selenochlamys Ysbryda, (BBC Wales, 2024)

The Ghost slug feeds voraciously on earthworms by sucking them into its mouth like spaghetti where 2000 razor sharp teeth finish the job. The insatiable appetite for earthworms makes this animal a dangerous predator as earthworm activity allows air and water into soil which enables plants and crops to grow and keep the soil in good health.

Currently, Ghost slugs are confined to South Wales and Gloucester and sightings should be reported to wildlife trusts in these areas including a photo, location, map grid reference and the date of the sighting. This information will be helpful in identifying areas where this gastropod breeds to ensure there is no further spread of this very efficient earthworm predator.

So, the next time you are eating spaghetti bolognaise and sucking a spaghetti string into your mouth just remember the Ghost slug eats worms the same way. Thanks for reading the blog and poem and enjoy your spag bol!

   Slugs           Hostas 

                and 

A trail of slime led to the
    scene of the crime and its
        site of devastation. The Hostas
             had no vegetation, their very
                  being was broken, beaten as
                              everything seemed to have
                                 been eaten. All was still and
                                   quiet, the culprits had long
                                since fled into the night, no
                            clues were left as to their
                  whereabouts or which way
           they may have been heading.
       It could have been the rose
    bush, strawberry patch or
 ornamental bedding. But
security will be improved,
  defence strategies reviewed
      and a warning sign put in
          place saying:
             Do not eat the 

                 Hostas.  Get  

                    yourself over 

                         to Costa and 

                            try the  millionaire
                                            shortbread 

                                                         instead.

Thanks for reading, and please leave a comment as they are always appreciated.

Dermot.