Celebrating snails at the RHS Show!

A black bird, great tit or robin feeding in our gardens is a common sight. In fact, we go to a lot of effort to attract these birds with offerings of treats like nuts and seeds, and bird boxes to build their nests.

There are other creatures that we try to keep away. Snails often top this list. They’re seen by many keen gardeners as enemy number one, and a lot of time, money and effort is spent to keep them away from vegetable patches and green houses.

The truth is, these slimy creatures are important to our gardens. They’re part of a large family, and like in any habitat, they have their own role to play. As we know, they have an appetite for living plants, but a huge part of their daily diet comes from rotting plants and leaf litter. By munching on decaying waste, they act like cleaners, hoovering up the mess in our gardens, leaving behind a healthy ecosystem.

More importantly, they’re an essential food source for many animals, from frogs, toads, newts and insects like ground beetles. Birds depend a lot on them too, and they are a clear favourite for song thrushes. Their shells provide an important source of calcium, an all-important element for the development of birds’ eggs. Some solitary bees even nest inside empty snail shells!

Maenor Malwen, our snail-friendly garden

 Because snails have had such a bad rep over the years, we felt it was time to celebrate these underestimated molluscs. The perfect opportunity to do this came when the Royal Horticulture Society (RHS) Show visited Bute Park, Cardiff, this April.

As part of the Giving Nature a Home in Cardiff team, we built our garden display, called Maenor Malwen, to showcase ideas of how to create wildlife rich gardens. The display allowed people to explore the different ways of creating snail friendly habitats, like placing rotting logs in a damp corner, digging up a small pond, or planting a natural meadow.

We also held a range of interesting activities, like bug safaris, to help children identify different species of snails and bugs, and nature themed treasure hunts, which encouraged children to use their senses to spot different textures and colours in the garden. There was also an opportunity to get messy by creating eco-friendly ‘snail slime’!

It was an extremely busy weekend, and we managed to engage with over 500 children over the course of three days! We also had many interesting conversations about wildlife friendly gardening with families, nature lovers and show punters.

The team will be busy over the next months with all kinds of activities in Cardiff for children and their families. From pond dipping to family volunteering, there are plenty of exciting ways to get involved.

 How to get involved

Here are a few events we have coming up:

  • RSPB Wild Challenge Wednesday in parks across the Cardiff
  • Swift Surveys: Help us monitor swift numbers as they return to our capital over the summer
  • Help us plant flower bulbs, coppice or litter pick with your family

To learn more about events and volunteering days across the city over the summer months and to book a place, email jessie.longstaff@rspb.org.uk or visit our Facebook group. To find out more about our family-friendly volunteering sessions and book a place e-mail susan.ansell@rspb.org.uk.