Snail alert at top Clare golf club

The humble snail is currently rivalling eagles and birdies for attention at one of Ireland’s top golf clubs.

Players at the celebrated Greg Norman-designed links course near Lahinch, Co Clare, are having to tread carefully as they await the formal go-ahead for plans to put a coastal protection scheme in place beside the club in the seaside village of Doonbeg.

The caution is due to the presence of vertigo angustior, a two millimetre rare snail, whose presence at Doonbeg was discovered four years ago.

Following a series surveys carried out over recent months, estimates are that no fewer than 10 million of the tiny animals inhabit sections of the course.

Leading snail authority Evelyn Moorkens, who undertook the study at the request of the Lahinch club, reported: “It appears to be thriving in the rough areas of the course.”

She stressed as well, though, that the rare creature was not under direct threat from the club’s proposals, adding: “If the coastal protection works succeed in preventing the erosion of the cliffs grassland, they may actually protect, rather than threaten the population of vertigo angustior in their vicinity by maintaining a buffer zone between their habitat and exposed coast.”

Ms Moorken’s work was commissioned after Clare Co Council put the protection plan on hold because of concern over the future of the snail.

The local authority is currently awaiting the submission of a long-term management plan for the snail’s habitat before giving the protection scheme the green light.