Mallard eating Slow Worm (1 Viewer)

How common is this?

Watched a female Mallard swallow, after about 10 attempts (it kept climbing back up her throat!) a Slow Worm, approx. 40cm long. She finally waded into the river outside my front door and drank some water to assist in washing it down.

I always assumed that Mallards were vegetarian but I see that females eat a lot of animal food whilst egg-laying, are Slow Worms often eaten?

I once spent a good five minutes watching a mallard trying and finally succeeding to eat a good sized frog.

Mallards will eat almost anything. I once saw Mallard eating Mallard! A group were crossing the road in Norfolk when one got killed. A drake then ate several bits. There's a thread on here from a few years ago on this subject. An incident at Blashford Lakes where a Mallard killed and ate a juvenile Sand Martin that landed in the water. And on a lake in Romania Mallards were seen to eat a Grey Wagtail and Black Redstart that had landed on the water. There was a BBC news report on this as I recall.

I had better keep my distance then!

I have seen mallard taking small fish in a mill pool.