Wandering Pond Snail - Radix balthica

The wandering snail has a tall-spired, brownish shell with a very large opening, but the colour is often obscured by a covering of greyish or brownish encrustation. The body of the snail is translucent grey-brown.

It will colonise weedy garden ponds. It is the pond snail most likely to be seen out of the water, climbing on to emergent vegetation or on to mud on the bank. It does not travel far from the water, always staying in very damp situations.

Eggs, in strips of clear jelly, are laid on water plants in the Summer. Plant and detritus feeder on pond plants, algae and plant detritus in water.

Very common and widespread throughout Britain.

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland.