Slugs and snails are being championed in the diocese after the new suffragan Bishop of St Germans shared his views on them to BBC Radio 2 listeners.

This week is Churches Count on Nature where people across the country are travelling to their local churchyards to help record the wealth of biodiversity found there.

The Rt Revd James Treasure has also been talking about the importance of biodiversity in a recent Pause for Thought piece recorded for BBC Radio 2 in the run up to World Environment Day.

The bishop admitted he had surprised himself by starting to enjoy gardening but had also discovered slugs were enjoying his hostas.Slug in the grass in a garden

He told BBC Radio 2 listeners: “I did a bit of research about these slimy visitors.

“I expected to find reasons to dislike them. Instead, I discovered that slugs do quite a lot of good. They are breaking down dead plant materials, they provide food for birds, hedgehogs, frogs and other wildlife.

“They are part of the complicated web of life that help an eco-system flourish, so it made me see them differently.”

At the end of the piece, he pledged to remember slugs belong and have a purpose.

“…even slugs have a place in this complicated astonishing life that we are all part of,” he said.

Dr Sharon Willoughby, diocesan Environment Officer, said it was fantastic to hear Bishop James talk about slugs and revealed he was not alone in seeing their worth.

She highlighted St Feock Church’s Festival of Slugs and Snails, held earlier this year, which incorporated a slug and snail hunt, a talk on the importance of slugs and snails to our environment and a traditional Cornish dance the ‘Snail creep’.

She said: “It was fantastic to hear Bishop Treasure talk about slugs on the run up to World Environment Day, which was held on June 5.

“Slugs and snails are important members of the web of life and they are to be celebrated. It can be difficult for us gardeners to make peace with our slimy friends, but it is a challenge worth taking on.

“Our gardens, large or small, are the spaces where we can make direct and important changes that support our natural world.”

Sharon said The Wildlife Trust and the RHS have also produced a leaflet titled ‘Making friends with Molluscs. Gardening with Slugs and Snails’, which supports all gardeners, ordained and lay, in their gardening and quest to embrace ‘even slugs’ as wildlife to be cherished.

Churches Count on Nature and caring for all God’s creatures is part of the Diocese of Truro’s priority for Creation Care.