The out-of-luck duckling who became a snack for a heron

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The adult bird was spotted in Regent's Park scooping up a duckling in its sizeable beak before swallowing it whole.

Unlike the incident of the pigeon-eating pelican in St James's Park last year, the scenario is not as uncommon as you might think.

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Pecking order: herons, such as this one in Regents Park, don't limit themselves to eating fish

Contrary to popular perception, herons frequently dine on more than just fish - they also eat frogs, ducklings and small mammals.

Paul Forecast of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said: "Herons hunt by standing motionless and darting their head into the water to catch a fish as it passes by, but if something else happens to come along they'll catch that too.

"Like humans, they'll go for the easy option. If it's an easy meal they'll have it.

"They can cope with big prey because they have elastic throats that enable them to swallow things whole. I've seen them tackling huge eels."

Heron numbers across the country are rising. Latest figures show there are 10,000 pairs across Britain, with 500 pairs in the capital.