Heath Snail

• the heath snail is a mollusc which is 12 to 20 millimetres (mm) in length and can be found throughout Northern Ireland
• this snail occurs in a variety of habitats but particularly dry chalk grassland and dunes
• it is probably the only helicellid (small to medium-sized, air-breathing land molluscs belonging to the hairy snail group) native in Ireland and abundant around the coast and in most of the central plain
• the shell is broad and very depressed with a very open coil producing a convex, low spire
• the surface is white or pale yellow-brown with fine irregular growth ridges and dark brown or yellow-brown spiral bands
• it tends to climb up grasses or bushes so can be visible even in dry weather
• this snail seems to have declined badly because of the abandonment of traditional farming
• however the heath snail may be one of the 'winners' with global warming as it can cope better with higher temperatures and dry conditions than other species, it actually climbs up stems to avoid the hot baked ground