What did I dig up today?

[MIkeTV]

Digging over a rather water-logged potato bed today at the allotment, I came across the following. I am hoping the good members of AGF can help me with identification.

These I first thought were huge manky slugs, which we get a lot of, but the shape and the way they moved was all wrong. I think they might be leeches, but have never seen them before, and were in the soil. I thought leeches lived in water?

Next, I unearthed this small glass vial. It measures about 2" long and has an oily liquid inside. There looks to have been a sticky label on the front, as there is remnants of glue in a perfect rectangle.
Anyone seen the like before?

 

[Meal Dot]

Look like leeches to me but what do I know?

 

[crissdee]

I thought leeches as well. The little vial might be "essential" oil...

 

[Bighit]

Vial may be a stink bomb.

 

[Sharpsman]

Definitely leeches , the can live in wet ground they don't have to be in ponds ect exclusively .

 

[MIkeTV]

Definitely leeches , the can live in wet ground they don't have to be in ponds ect exclusively .

Thanks for confirming. I've never seen one before. They're pretty freaky looking things.
Think i'll be tucking my breeks into my socks from now on!

 

[Si Titor]

The vial is most likley a stink bomb or a controled substance

 

[MIkeTV]

Vial may be a stink bomb.

View attachment 842424

I think you're right.
Might take it to the next manager's meeting.

 

[Gers32]

I immediately thought "stink bomb" when I saw the vial. I had some rather mischievous school chums.

They do look like leeches and I didn't even realise they had them in the UK. My father used to pick them up attached to his legs when wading through streams in India as a child. He said the Seypoys (who used to accompany them as security) used to burn them with cigarette ends so they would let go.

 

[eds81]

Thanks for confirming. I've never seen one before. They're pretty freaky looking things.
Think i'll be tucking my breeks into my socks from now on!

Place one on back of your hand then you’ll be freaked out

 

[Dudd I]

The vial looks like it's from The Deep.

 

[Matt@Nearfield]

I thought stink bomb the moment I saw it. We used to lob them round the dining room at school

 

[chris l]

I immediately thought "stink bomb" when I saw the vial. I had some rather mischievous school chums.

They do look like leeches and I didn't even realise they had them in the UK. My father used to pick them up attached to his legs when wading through streams in India as a child. He said the Seypoys (who used to accompany them as security) used to burn them with cigarette ends so they would let go.

I was taught not always a good idea to burn them off, as their heads/suckers may remain in the wound....

Flick them off with a credit card or a fingernail, or let them drop off when full....

They inject an anticoagulant, so you may bleed like, um, quite a lot, when they are removed...

Ask me how I know...

 

[Beaver]

They look like Australian flatworms
They prey on & devastate U.K. population of earthworms
This was highlighted in the news several years ago
The advice is to destroy them
As for the capsule, may also be Morphine

 

[Sharpsman]

They look like Australian flatworms
They prey on & devastate U.K. population of earthworms
This was highlighted in the news several years ago
The advice is to destroy them
As for the capsule, may also be Morphine

Looks like you may be correct my thoughts leeches is probably wrong after a quick read up on them.

 

[Beaver]

Looks like you may be correct my thoughts leeches is probably wrong after a quick read up on them.

 

[Lightning22]

They look like Australian flatworms
They prey on & devastate U.K. population of earthworms
This was highlighted in the news several years ago
The advice is to destroy them
As for the capsule, may also be MorphineView attachment 842522

Never seen morphine, or any other controlled drug in that fetching shade of yellow. Looks like a stink bomb to me.

 

[MIkeTV]

They look like Australian flatworms
They prey on & devastate U.K. population of earthworms
This was highlighted in the news several years ago
The advice is to destroy them
As for the capsule, may also be MorphineView attachment 842522

Very interesting. Although these bad-boys stretched out to 6"-8" when they were on the move, and didn't show any pinkness. They were yellowy-brown. I think you're on the right track though. I reckon they're closer to the New Zealand Flatworm.

Flatworms | Wildlife Gardening Forum

Phylum: Platyhelminthes. Flatworms are simple animals. The native British and Irish flatworms can be divided into land-living and pond-living species, and there are important non-native species to consider as well. This group also contains the flukes and tape worms which are parasites that...

wlgf.org

Looks like bad news for the worms on my allotment. I wish I had smushed them to death now.

 

[chris l]

The big question; .22 or .177 for flatworms?

 

[Beaver]

Never seen morphine, or any other controlled drug in that fetching shade of yellow. Looks like a stink bomb to me.