Slugs and snails.

The gardens were infested with slugs and snails. If you walked on a wet night you could hear the scrunch on trampled shells. So 10 years ago I went out on damp nights with a torch and bagged all I could see. At first I captured many hundreds, until numbers finally dropped to single figures. Numbers have been manageable since. I now bag them when I see them. If you release them back to the wild, for the thrushes, find a wilderness rather than cause someone else a problem. I occasionally use Doff 'Slug Attack' white pellets (child and pet friendly) sprinkled thinly to protect new plants, which works. I have found that hostas planted in clay pots sprayed with WD40 works wonderfully as slugs and snails will not climb up (but beware overhanging foliage). The new treatment is to use garlic - either or both to plant garlic cloves in your bed of susceptible plants; and to boil a few cloves in 2 pts of water, bottle the water and add a half cup to a 2 gallon watering can to water any plants in danger. Google slug + garlic and you will see it has been researched. Slugs and snails seem to smell plants they enjoy, but cannot through the garlic. Garlic deters slugs, and may also prevent them thriving and be the basis of future organic treatments. Good luck.