It is that time of year when many animals settle down to hibernate through winter, but not just fluffy dormice and not so fluffy hedgehogs, writes Ed Dolphin for the Sid Valley Biodiversity Group.

Garden snails hibernate, but they like company as they sleep.

Garden snails sleep in a hibernaculum, a secluded space where they cluster together for safety and security.

There are over 100 land snail species in the UK and about 40 aquatic species.

They are all ectothermic, their body temperature is controlled by their surroundings.

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Their metabolism slows as the temperature drops and they enter a sleepy state called torpor.

Garden snails might be a bit of a nuisance in a vegetable plot and they are not everyone’s favourite creature, but they are an important part of our interconnected nature.

They help clear up dead material that would build up to cause a different garden problem without the snails and other detritus feeders eating it.

Also, they are an important food source for many creatures such as hedgehogs, frogs, toads and, of course, song thrushes.

Garden snails have a homing instinct, possibly following faint chemical traces in their environment.

In summer they will return to a favourite sheltered spot each morning after spending the night foraging.

As autumn progresses, the first frosts trigger a reaction in garden snails and they gather in their hibernaculum.

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Out of town this could be a crevice in an old tree or a gap in an old dry stone wall.

In town it could be somewhere like a stack of old flower pots in the corner of the garden.

One place you can find them in Sidmouth is in the land drain pipes that are a feature of many retaining walls around old gardens in Station Road and Seafield Road.

Whether they are in clusters or sleeping alone under a shelf in the greenhouse, snails prepare for hibernation by secreting an epiphragm, a plug of special mucus that sticks firmly to the surface, often the shell of another snail in the cluster.

The epiphragm not only sticks fast, it seals the mouth of the shell so that the snail doesn’t dehydrate over the months of hibernation, and pests and diseases cannot get in.

As the epiphragm mucus dries it changes character and actually repels moisture and this prevents the snail’s precious body water from escaping.

Snails will hibernate in winter because it is too cold for their body systems to work.

In a hot dry summer they also shut down, this time to prevent drying out.

This is called aestivation.

The snail will find a secure spot and stick itself in place with a water saving epiphragm.

Rather than responding to cold, the snail’s metabolism is slowed down to its resting state by hormones.

Snails are fascinating, and important in our web of nature.

If you have too many snails then remove them physically to a different location, please don’t use pellets.

Apart from killing these useful creatures, the chemicals run the risk of poisoning other wildlife.