Snails earned Jamie Abernethy a Silver Award at his school fair, a CREST award and 1st in the Living World section (yr 7 - 8).
Jaime is a 12-year-old from Bohally Intermediate, who was having a major problem with snails in part of the family vegetable garden.
His aim as to remove the snails from that part of the garden, with out harming them, and find ways of keeping them out.
First Jaime did some research reading and observed the snails in their natural habitat. He used the information he gained to build an alternative home for the snails.
Jaime then lured them from the garden by wetting the surrounding area (snails seek out moisture), went out at night (snails are nocturnal) to catch and relocated them to their new accommodation.
To keep the snails from the garden he surrounded the area with broken mussel shell. Once the snails settled in their new home they would return every night after browsing (not on the garden).
Jamie learned a lot about snails and successfully found away to protect the garden from their attentions with out harming the snails.
Some words of advice from Jaime are "find a simple every day problem, research, observe, and keep good records of what you do. Continue until you have a solution. Present your information in a clear and interesting way".