SHORT of re-enacting a scene from The Hound of the Baskervilles, you might think there is little reason for prowling the wilds of Dartmoor at night. A naturalist wouldn’t find it so strange, however, given that some of the area’s most intriguing wildlife—including bats, owls and nightjars—is essentially nocturnal. Also among their number is the ash-black slug, as Dartmoor National Park is one of the strongholds of what is believed to be the world’s largest land slug. Africa may have its Big Five, which includes lions and rhinos, but the park’s website states that it is proud to include the ash-black as a member of ‘Dartmoor’s Little Five’, keeping company with the cuckoo, marsh fritillary, otter and blue ground beetle.
It’s possible that other giant slugs await discovery in the equatorial rainforests, but what is certain is that, among the 44 known species present in Britain, Limax cinereoniger is our largest—most measure between 4in–8in, but some clock in at a whopping 12in. A. E. Ellis’s British Snails, first published in 1926 and for 40 years the standard work on the subject, even described them as ‘being up to 10cm to 40cm [4in–15¾in] long’. By comparison, one of the most common slugs, the large black (Arion ater), reaches up to 5½in in maturity.
This story is from the June 08, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the June 08, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Too divine
Four actresses earn the plaudits this month, for parts ranging from Sarah Siddons to Charlotte Bronté
Stashed away
The vast collection of the late George Withers, encompassing everything from Prattware pot lids to barometers, doubles up as a guide to the mid-market collecting fancies of the past 60 years
Parsley of Macedon
Not quite a native, alexanders can taste like joss stick-tainted celery or sweetly spiced parsnips, depending on your method, warns John Wright
A hungry heart
A man who strove, sought and found, Wassily Kandinsky pioneered not one, but two artistic movements against the tumultuous backdrop of early-20thcentury Europe, as Holly Black relates
Royal favours
AFTER much speculation as to what might be the favourite flower Her of Elizabeth II, the truth was revealed at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2019.
Smart thinking
A private family garden near Godalming in Surrey How does a garden design begin? With a lot of questions and by finding a central theme says James Alexander-Sinclair
Escape to the hills
These four houses in the county of Surrey can offer the best of both worlds: rural settings and easy access to London
A little help from your friends
Driven to distraction by paint charts? A colour consultant could be the answer for anyone befuddled by choosing the right hue
A (crab) apple a day
They may be too tart to eat, but crab apples can be made into all sorts of good things, from jellies to salves, and may even have been Adam and Eve's forbidden fruit, says Ian Morton
The sound of centuries past
The past 50 years have seen an energetic revival of the instruments that would have been played in Bach's day. Henrietta Bredin meets players fascinated by the noises Baroque composers would have heard