Slug: The Sunday Times Bestseller

Product Information

In recent years, those working on terrestrial molluscs have expehenced an increasingly frustrating time in the task of identification. Although some species are relatively easy to identify, others can be extremely difficult to separate. It's a problem that has arisen thanks to the arrival and spread of non-native species as well as the realisation that some established species may have been incorrectly named or are actually a group of closely inter-related species, typically requiring specialist Identification techniques to resolve. Brady goes to a garden centre and buys a bottle of slug poison and some slug pellets. He puts them down in his garden. Gravedigger Charlie Barnes digs up a grave during the night to rob the occupants valuables, but is eaten alive by slugs when he falls in. The illustrations in Slug in Love are a standout feature of the book. Rachel Bright's artwork is colorful, charming, and full of personality. The expressive illustrations of Doug and his friends bring the story to life and add depth to the characters, making them relatable and endearing to young readers. This richly illustrated full-colour AIDGAP guide provides comprehensive, picture-based identification charts and species accounts for 46 slug and semi-slug species now known from Britain or Ireland. It includes advice on recognising the pest species and their control in gardens.

Carol Wilton leaves her four-year-old son Paul in the garden to buy some bread and milk, while he sits and watches slugs eat his rabbit. This new book represents a quantum leap forward for slug biology, and its appearance should revolutionise work on these fascinating animals. It can really get the 'slug world' moving, and for those already engaged in study it should provide the means to approach identification with a new confidence. Certain aspects of slug identification will never be easy, but the book provides assistance and encouragement to make the task less daunting and even relatively straightforward. By revealing the fascinating diversity it will surely encourage many newcomers to look at slugs in a new light. The guide is also a keystone work that can assist in the study of distributional changes that relate to the spread of invasive species, as well as revealing more about the true range of our established slug fauna.Brady and Palmer test their radios, then begin searching the central chambers of the sewers for the slugs' nest. Foley follows them in above his car. They find the slugs, but become trapped when they cannot remove a grille from a chamber. Brady eventually removes the grille but Palmer is eaten by the slugs in the meantime. Foley drives to the manhole cover where Brady can escape but the cover is jammed shut. Using a rope tied to his car he manages to remove the manhole cover, just before Brady's oxygen supply runs out. Both men tip the 5 gallon drum of poison down into the sewer which sets off a chain reaction sweeping through the entire Merton sewer system. I admit, I was looking a bit funnily when I saw the title of the book. Slugs in love? Slugs aren’t really my favourite creatures, and one in love sounds weird. But I still couldn’t resist, and I do love reading some very random books so requesting it was. And here I am. Reading it.

This relatively small and neat volume manages to include a tremendous amount of information; no space is wasted. Its compact dimensions mean that, unlike many identification guides, it really can be used in the field. The book stars a slug named Doug who “needs a hug.” Doug consistently misses the love boat. He seeks affection in all the right places from creepy-crawlies he thinks might be interested in him, but he’s shot down time and again. The clunky rhyming in this book will keep it out of my story times. There is so much rhyme for rhyme's sake - Doug, hug, slug, snug, bug - and yet the author also rhymes all of these words with "love." It feels sloppy and uncomfortable to read aloud. Her written work includes children’s stories and poems, clever advertising copy and lots of other stuff besides. Her illustrative work is a smorgasboard of giant, hand-printed poems, mind-bogglingly detailed gouache illustrations and a cacophony of quirky prints and etchings. She explores the lovliness of words and the magic of pictures, revelling in a world of jam-eating miniature bears and other made-up animals.Thankfully, in 2014 the publication of a new slug guide should help to resolve many of these issues. This completely new FSC AIDGAP publication, which is the subject of this review, should greatly assist with British and Irish slug identification, at last putting slug biology on a much more certain footing and acting as a 'driver' to encourage further studies of this aspect of our dynamic fauna. Finally, Slug happens onto a real looker—Gail the snail. She sports lips as red as cherries, cateye glasses and a shell that mimics a leopard skin coat. The couple even visits romantic Paris to view the Eiffel Tower, but their romance falls flat. Slugs have a notorious reputation as plant pests but many species have more varied ecological roles. The British and Irish slug fauna has changed rapidly over recent years as exotic species join our native wildlife. While researching for Slugs of Britain and Ireland the authors set out to find all 36 know UK species, and were surprised to come across several they didn't recognise. Although slug species can vary enormously in appearance, and several are difficult to identify, further work, including DNA analysis, confirmed that they were distinct species.