I hadn't really realised what an amazing summer this must be if you happen to be a slug, until we went out for a walk after heavy rain a couple of days ago. The footpath was covered with these slimy molluscs, but so too were the flower umbels of hogweed. Wet weather seems to encourage slugs to climb tall flower stems to feed on petals and pollen. Why do they bother, when there is so much food at ground level?
This rather colourful local variety of Arion ater, with an orange skirt, had climbed a dandelion stem to feed on the florets.
Meanwhile, the same rain storms have done serious damage to pollinating bees. This bumblebee was so saturated by rain that it was diffcult to decide what species it might be.
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