Cepaea nemoralis, Cepaea hortensis
- The snail on the right of the pair in the photo is a brown lipped snail (Cepaea nemoralis). Their shells can be solid colours or striped. They are “active, lively snails” apparently!
- The snail on the tarmac is a White Lipped Snail (Cepaea hortensis).
- Cowbar has several species of snail of all sizes. They appear all over the Cleveland Way footpath when it rains.
- They live and feed in the grasses and burrow down to hibernate in the grass roots in winter.
- Snails have a chemical in their blood to stop them freezing when temperatures drop.
- They are low on the food chain and feed on rotting vegetation, fungi and sometimes soil.
- They are food for a wide range of other wildlife including lizards, snakes, birds, mammals (including foxes) and even some insects.
- Some species of firefly in their larval stage eat only snails.
- For birds, snails provide calcium and other nutrients vital to embryo and shell formation.
- If snails or their habitat are threatened or in decline, this will endanger a huge range of other creatures who rely on them for food.
- The Aztec believed that the snail was the moon god and the spiral of the shell represented the moon and its cycles. The snail was a symbol of time or transition.
- Congham in Norfolk has hosted the World Snail Racing Championships for more than 25 years.
