Snail Trail is the account of my attempt to see every terrestrial land snail in the UK (or Britain, if that turns out to be significantly easier) in 2015 without properly thinking it through beforehand.
I mean, I only started thinking about it in December 2014 and I sincerely doubt I have done enough preparation and networking. Surely if I’m going to do something like this I need a big folder full of miscellaneous papers with coloured tabs in it? I haven’t got that, but I’m plunging in regardless.
I was inspired by the books of Patrick Barkham (The Butterfly Isles) and Marianne Taylor (Dragonflight), both of who picked a taxonomic group (and, let’s be honest, pretty easy groups) and tried to see them all in a set time period. I have decided to do something similar, but with a tragically under-appreciated, more speciose and much trickier (in terms of ID, at least) group. Why? Well, clearly there’s something faintly masochistic about me.
I hope you enjoy (or, at least, don’t despise) reading about my attempt.
snail trail 2015 
A very worthy quest. How many different species of terrestrial land snail are there in the UK (or Britain if you run out of fingers)?
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There are, I think, one hundred species of terrestrial snail that can be found out and about in the UK. Added to this are six species of snail that are found in estuarine habitats (sort of ‘semi-terrestrial’) and twelve species that are only found in artificial habitats such as greenhouses and hothouses. All together, 118 species that I am attempting to see.
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I had no idea there were so many! I hope you find them all.
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