Highway to hell

Last Saturday it was the first time for me that I visited the nature area 'The Elzen' near Dordrecht and it was very nice to meet everybody from the 'Palinka' club again and to make new plans for a trip to France next year.
Unfortunately any colour in the sky was missing that morning. No signs of butterflies at all but instead plenty of snails. 

Grove snail - Canon 7DMKII, tripod, remote release, 20-35 mm (20 mm), 1/30 sec, F 5, ISO160

Gerard showed me a snail with a special coloured feeler. In fact it is a parasite worm (Leucochloridium paradoxum) who is using the snail as temporary host; the definitive host for this parasite are birds. With this coloured rings in the feeler this parasite try to draw the attention of birds....it's amazing to witness this colour spectacle and it's cruel at the same time. 

Parasited snail - Canon 7DMKII, tripod, remote release, 180 mm, 1/10 sec, F 5, ISO160

For an other occasion I was in Dordrecht again this week and I was impressed by the large number of herons.....fortunately they do not eat infected snails!