UK’s only giant LEGO® brick wetland animal trail unveiled at London Wetland Centre
The giant LEGO brick animal trail, the only one of its kind in the UK, has opened at London Wetland Centre. This is the first time these amazing characters, especially created for WWT, have been seen in the capital among the real life animals which inspired them.
Through this trail, WWT is using the world’s most popular toy to encourage kids (and big kids) to build a better future for nature.
Visitors to London Wetland Centre can enjoy the nine individually-designed LEGO brick characters for five weeks over the autumn (including half term) from 3 October – 8 November. The trail then continues its tour around the rest of WWT’s wetland centres, starting with Martin Mere in Lancashire for Christmas 2015 and then moving onto Castle Espie in Northern Ireland from 13 February 2016.
The giant animals, some up to twelve times life size, include Natalie the Nene, the world’s rarest goose, who arrived in style to the launch in a London taxi, Flavia the Andean flamingo, a riot of pink bricks and Benedict the Bewick’s swan, magnificently stretching his brick wings. Another model, Lottie the otter, was named through a social media competition, to celebrate the birth of Princess Charlotte.
These magnificent LEGO brick models were created by south-east based Bright Bricks, the UK’s only certified LEGO professionals, and Tom Poulsom, the famous LEGO brick ‘birdman’. In total, nearly 92,000 LEGO bricks were used over 955 hours to make all 10 characters. Lottie the otter and Bruce the Red Breasted goose took the longest time to make at 120 hours each.
David Green, London’s General Manager said:
“We’re thrilled to welcome the new species that have landed at London Wetland Centre today. 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. Today, we are using LEGO bricks to inspire the next generation to continue Sir Peter’s work of saving threatened wildlife.”
As well as the trail, budding sculptors can take part in creative fun and games at exclusive LEGO brick workshops at weekends and during October half term, enter a competition to win their own LEGO kits and build minifigures. All proceeds will support WWT’s essential conservation work in the UK and around the world.
There is no extra cost to meet the giant LEGO brick animals at WWT centres, the trail is included in the admission price. Places for the workshops can be pre-booked online. To find out more about WWT’s Giant LEGO brick animals and other brick activities please visit wwt.org.uk/legobrickanimals or follow #LEGOBrickAnimals.
