National Trust staff given snail handling lessons

National Trust staff at a Roman villa undergoing restoration work have been given snail-handling lessons in order to protect a rare species from being crushed under builders' boots

Operation Roman Snail has been laid on to protect the molluscs, which were introduced to the country 2,000 years ago by the occupying soldiers.

Brought across the Channel as food, some managed to escape the legionnaires' frying pans and set up isolated colonies across the south of England. One group set up home is at Chedworth Roman Villa, near Cirencester in the Cotswolds, where work has started on a £3 million project to build overhead walkways so visitors can view its stunning mosaics.

As well as teaching staff how to relocate the snails, the Trust is embedding netting in the ground to keep them off the building site and building wildlife havens to attract any specimens which make it into the at-risk area.

By Alun Rees
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/8132270/National-Trust-staff-given-snail-handling-lessons.html