The Walled Gardens of Cannington has welcomed snail enthusiast Tom Walker to conduct research in the botanical glasshouse.

Tom is currently finding molluscs that live in heated glasshouses in Britain—the so-called ‘hothouse aliens¹’—being species that are at present unable to live in the open in Britain.

Tom aims to visit all the heated glasshouses in Britain and Ireland and record what species he finds. So far, he has visited Kew Gardens, Wisley RHS Gardens, Bristol Botanical Gardens and the Eden Project, amongst others.

Although no ’hothouse aliens‘ were found in The Walled Gardens' glasshouse, there were a variety of other species found, yet to be identified. Tom hopes to seek help from specialists in the Natural History Museum, together with their reference collections, about his collected samples from around Britain, as identification can be difficult.

If you would like more information about The Walled Gardens of Cannington phone 01278 655042, email walledgardens@bridgwater.ac.uk.