I have a collection of large flat stones, which I have laid together in the form of a pavement. The original intention was to encourage butterflies and dragonflies to bask there; so that I could take photographs of them. Sadly, the insects, the camera and me were never in the same place at the same time: so no photographs ever ensued.

I did, however, chance upon a thrush having lunch there. I happened to be nearby when the first of a series of sharp cracks sounded out. When I peered around a convenient hazel bush I spotted a group of snails lined up on the stones. The snails were lying on the backs, shells down.

A thrush grabbed the foot of a snail with it's beak, casually turned its head to one side and then swung the snail violently forward. The snail described an arc in the air, with its body forced out of its shell by gravity, which was terminated when the shell hit the corner of a stone and erupted in a shower of splinters: turning the snail into a slug at one stroke. 

This was the source of the "cracks" that I had heard. As soon as the shell had been destroyed the thrush simply gobbled up the body and grabbed the next snail. When the thrush had polished off all of the snails, it started collecting another batch and the whole process was repeated.

I have never seen a thrush doing this again, even though I regularly raid my snail-hoard in the hope of enticing another such demonstration that I can photograph.

First sighting   - 2005

Highest weekly counts:

2005                1

2006                1

2007                1

2008                2

2009                4