I think this may simply be the work of a Song Thrush. They don't necessarily end up beating the snail shell to pieces, although this does happen with smaller, more fragile snails. Often the snail is extracted quite quickly, leaving the shell more or less in one piece with just a few holes from being hit on the stone.
Not alot of thrushes around here tho Joe, I should have included something for scale, the hole is mm across, i cant see how the bird would be able to open its beak. We do have a lot of blackbirds, but again, i suspect the hole is much too small
I can see the case for the devils coach man, still not completely sure about slugs
To me, the holes look ragged and, interestingly, seem to be on grooves in the shell which could be lines of weakness. Thrushes seem to start off by gripping the rim of the shell (they don't stab the shell and then hold it or try to eat the snail through the hole) and bashing it on a stone. Presumably this dislodges the snail within the shell. They then grip the snail itself and wrestle with it and bang it on the stone until the snail comes out of the shell. Smaller, thinner shells, like one small yellow one we get around here, don't survive the bashing and end up in pieces, producing quite a lot of debris around the anvil, but the larger ones may well survive intact apart from some slight damage.
For a biggish bird, thrushes are quite secretive and easily missed (except when singing in spring). Your local wildlife trust or ornithological society would be able to give you an idea of how common they are around your area.
We definately have them very close to where i live, the bottom of the next street infact, i watch the birds alot, but havent ever seen one in the garden
Id feel a bit better about it being a bird, it doesnt seem so creepy!
So are you saying they basically stab the poor thing through the shell, then pull it out the "head end"?
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I think this may simply be the work of a Song Thrush. They don't necessarily end up beating the snail shell to pieces, although this does happen with smaller, more fragile snails. Often the snail is extracted quite quickly, leaving the shell more or less in one piece with just a few holes from being hit on the stone.
I can see the case for the devils coach man, still not completely sure about slugs
To me, the holes look ragged and, interestingly, seem to be on grooves in the shell which could be lines of weakness. Thrushes seem to start off by gripping the rim of the shell (they don't stab the shell and then hold it or try to eat the snail through the hole) and bashing it on a stone. Presumably this dislodges the snail within the shell. They then grip the snail itself and wrestle with it and bang it on the stone until the snail comes out of the shell. Smaller, thinner shells, like one small yellow one we get around here, don't survive the bashing and end up in pieces, producing quite a lot of debris around the anvil, but the larger ones may well survive intact apart from some slight damage.
For a biggish bird, thrushes are quite secretive and easily missed (except when singing in spring). Your local wildlife trust or ornithological society would be able to give you an idea of how common they are around your area.
Id feel a bit better about it being a bird, it doesnt seem so creepy!
So are you saying they basically stab the poor thing through the shell, then pull it out the "head end"?