are Slow Worms protected ?

Question

I feel very lucky to have masses, and mean masses of Slow Worms in my garden and always have, What i cant find out is are they a protected species? And will birds eat them? 
 heres one of them.

aiki · Accepted Answer

Fabulous photo - lucky you to have lots of Slow-worms in the garden :) 
 I found some info about protection here: http://www.naturenet.net/law/herps.html . The relevant bit is this: 
 Protection against killing, injuring and sale, etc 
 
 This level of protection applies to the four widespread species of reptile,
 namely the common lizard, slow-worm, grass snake and adder. Only part of
 sub-section 9(1) and all of sub-section 9(5) apply; these prohibit the intentional
 killing and injuring and trade (i.e. sale, barter, exchange, transporting
 for sale and advertising to sell or to buy). It is not an offence under the
 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to possess these animals. 
 As for birds eating them, yes, some species do. Here's a photo I took last year of a Kestrel with Slow-worm prey: