By Verne
Lincolnshire,
United Kingdom 
I am not a fan of slugs, especially after reading that James Herbert-type horror novel...
Why aren't there any black slugs any more? When I was a kid all slugs were jet black but I haven't seen a black slug for more than 20 years and all of them seem to be a light tan colour...
They love cat food. They gather around the place I feed a couple of feral cats and sometimes I can sweep up a couple of full dustpans of slugs from that area...
It is perhaps a sign of the changes to come from global warming but a new breed of slug is appearing in my yard - it is larger than the usual but the same light tan colour AND it wears a red mini-skirt (a thick vivid red line around the base)!
I have only seen about a dozen of these over the last few years.
Anything to worry about slug experts?
I sometimes get a visit from a large brightly coloured flying beetle in the hours of darkness in the last few summers. Never seen them before that.
Bright orange/red and almost an inch long will appear out of the darkness and rest on a wall under a light for a time before moving on...
Would this be what the Americans in the movies call a "July bug"?
17 Apr, 2011
Hi Verne,
I laughed at your " large tanned mini skirt wearing slug,"
We get loads of them, hanging around in groups,getting drunk on cheap beer! ( sounds like your average town on a Saturday night)
I still find the little grey ones, my chicken loves pecking around for them....she won't touch the huge mutant Big ones though.
Not sure what your flying beetle thing is, but it sounds amazing.
Happy gardening.
17 Apr, 2011