A rare snail found in just one lake in the UK started laying eggs on its six-hour journey from Wales to Kent, as a zoo joined a nationwide effort to save the species.

Glutinous snails are no bigger than a fingertip and used to be widespread across UK water ways.

It is thought habitat disruption and environmental changes reduced their population to such an extent that they are only now found in Llyn Tegid, a lake in Eryri National Park, also known as Snowdonia.

Wingham Wildlife Park near Canterbury has taken some of the wild population to breed and release into the wild. Samantha Eden, assistant curator, said the zoo started with six snails and recently started a new colony.

Despite their slow reputation, the breeding efforts are off to a flying start, Eden said.

“I brought 24 snails back from Wales at the start of July,” she said.

“It was a six hour drive, and by the time I’d arrived back at the park I had about 12 egg pods in the carry containers that we were using. They’d laid eggs literally whilst we were driving.

“We started, with one of the ponds, with just six adult snails. We recently moved 130 babies out of that pond to start a new colony.”

Hannah Ellins, head of reptiles and invertebrates, said: “We do a lot of work with exotics, but it’s cool being able to help our animals here.”

She added: “We’ll keep breeding them and then hopefully we’ll eventually then release them into the wild and help wild populations.”

The scheme is part of a wider national effort to protect the very rare species.

Wingham Wildlife Park is joining Askham Bryan Wildlife Park in York and Longleat in Wiltshire, along with Dudley and Chester zoos, with the Freshwater Habitats Trust searching for suitable water bodies where the snails could eventually be released.

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