Hungry slugs returning after dry weather to munch on strawberries

Gardeners beware - an onslaught of slugs could be heading for your strawberries.

The UK's recent rainy weather is expected to bring the slugs out, just as soft fruits and summer crops are blooming, gardening experts say.

Weeks of sun have forced the slugs into hiding because they don't like the hot weather, but the warm temperatures have helped produce a bumper crop of strawberries - which are in danger of being munched.

"After a long, dry spring those slugs and snails that have survived the drought will be making their way out from their underground hiding places," Dr Hayley Jones, insect expert at the Royal Horticultural Society told Newsround.

"Some garden plants have thrived, such as strawberries, which may be fruiting early, and the soft fruit is very tempting for slugs and snails."

To keep the slugs away, Dr Jones recommends spreading straw around the strawberries as slugs don't like crawling on it, and keeping unplanted seedlings away from the ground, such as on a table.

Inviting more wildlife, such as birds and hedgehogs, into your garden and changing the times you water plants can also help.

Although they can be a problem if you want to grow delicious crops, slugs and snails are actually part of an important ecosystem in both our gardens and the wild.

They like to feast on decaying plants, fungi and even poo, and in doing so they add vital nutrients back into the soil.

Just nine of the estimated 44 UK species are known for being annoying nibblers that particularly enjoy chomping away on foods like strawberries, lettuce and carrots.

Dr Jones recommends an "evening slug hunt" to remove slugs from plants, placing them instead on a compost heap.