A giant animal LEGO trail has landed for all the family to explore at the London Wetland Centre.
The launch unveiled around 92,000 LEGO bricks have been used to create nine larger than life characters inspired by real-life creatures found at the nature reserve, in Barnes.
In the only trail of its kind in the UK, the huge animals - some up to 12 times their life size - include Natalie the Nene, the world's rarest goose; Flavia the Andean flamingo, a riot of pink bricks; Benedict the Bewick’s swan, magnificently stretching his wings; and Lottie the otter, named through a social media competition to celebrate the birth of Princess Charlotte.
General manager David Green said: “We’re thrilled to welcome the new species that have landed at London Wetland Centre.
"We know our visitors old and new are going to absolutely love them.
"They’re a really fun way to highlight some of the animals WWT helps to protect, such as the iconic Nene and our otters.
"Here at London Wetland Centre, we take particular pride in helping to conserve the Hawaiian goose (Nene) the world’s rarest goose, which was originally identified as a species that needed protecting by our founder Sir Peter Scott.
"We are using LEGO bricks to inspire the next generation to continue Sir Peter’s work of saving threatened wildlife.”
The magnificent LEGO brick models were created by South East-based Bright Bricks, and Tom Poulsom, the famous LEGO brick ‘birdman’.
They have worked over 955 hours to make all the characters, with Lottie the otter and Bruce the red-breasted goose taking the longest time at 120 hours each.
The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust’s (WWT) giant LEGO brick animal trail will open on Saturday (October 3) and run until Sunday November 8.
Budding sculptors can join LEGO brick workshops on weekends and during the October half-term, enter a competition to win their own LEGO brick kits and build mini figures.
The trail is included in the admission price. Places for the workshops can be pre-booked online.
For more information visit wwt.org.uk/legobrickanimals.
