Slugs and snails are vital, says wildlife charity

The Spanish slug (arion vulgaris) was first spotted in the UK in 2013

Gardeners are being urged not to kill slugs and snails after a boom in their numbers due to wet and warm weather.

The Devon Wildlife Trust said there were about 40 species of slugs but only up to five caused a problem.

Slugs and snails need moisture to survive and a wet spring and autumn had created perfect conditions.

Steve Hussey, from the charity, said gardeners should resist the urge to kill them as they were a vital food source.

Olga Grieves said slugs ate Carolina Reaper peppers in her greenhouse

"They are the food for a lot of things that we love in our gardens," he said.

"Hedgehogs, birds, amphibians, reptiles - a lot of those species are really struggling at the moment.

"Slugs do a lot of other good jobs in our garden as well, they are really good recyclers.

"If you have a compost heap, it will be full of slugs doing that work for you."

'Army of slugs'

Olga Grieves, a gardener with an allotment in Keyham, said she had really noticed an increase in slugs this year, including one that chewed through a Carolina Reaper, the world's hottest chilli.

She grows everything on her plot organically and has come up with ways to reduce the slug problem naturally.

"I go around the plot at dusk with my head torch on, picking them off individually," she said.

"Encouraging biodiversity on the plot means song thrushes, frogs, and even foxes deal with a lot of them for me."

Ms Grieves also grows slug-proof flowers such as snapdragons as well as spikey plants such teasels.

"Sadly veg-wise, they do like everything," she admitted.

"Abysmal" pumpkin harvests this season are down to an "army of slugs" and dreary weather, National Trust gardeners have said.

September's cold and wet weather meant many plants at its gardens stopped growing and needed harvesting early, with its gardeners reporting reduced squash and pumpkin crops ahead of Halloween.

Arlington Court in Devon reported an "abysmal" season for squashes and pumpkins, with poor weather and slugs causing the loss of more than 150 plants.