A FORMER biology teacher from Wellington hopes his first book will not just appeal to children of all ages, but their parents, too.

Michael Ratsey’s book,The Tale of Sheldon the Snail, combines an engaging story of adventures involving the wildlife in an old man’s garden with underlying themes of the balance of nature, how it can be easily upset with charming black-and-white illustrations.

The author, who grew up on a farm near Milverton and attended Wellington School in the 1960s, has a lifetime of first-hand experience of the wildlife to be found in woods, hedgerows and gardens, with a special interest in snails. There are still people in this local area who know him, although he now lives in Montacute.

His first involvement with scientific research into various species of snail was more than 50 years ago, with his focus in more recent years having been on the Roman Snail. This is a highly protected species of limited distribution in England, found mostly in the Cotswolds and the south east, but not at all in the south west.

Under licence from Natural England and with the co-operation of the National Trust, Michael Ratsey has been running a Roman Snail breeding programme at his home, with the snails to be released at a carefully selected site in the county. His pioneering work in this field was a major feature in the episode of BBC TV’s Countryfile shown on July 7, and which is still available on BBC iPlayer.

The Tale of Sheldon the Snail is published by Pegasus (ISBN number 9781787881396) and scheduled for release on September 26 this year.

The title can be pre-ordered from Bookshop by the Blackdowns in South Street, Wellington, as well as from Foyles in London, and other retail outlets such as Waterstones and Amazon.