30 Days Wild in June Challenge - Day 23 - Giant Creatures

Today has been a very thundery and humid day and so most of my local wildlife has stayed under cover.  I spotted a few bees on the bramble blossoms between showers this afternoon but didn't have time to photograph them, so here are some of the summer residents of the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust Centre in Arundel who greeted us when we visited at the beginning of the week.

Whilst there we found out that there was a trail of giant Lego creatures waiting to be spotted, so off we all went, maps in hand and these are what we discovered: 

This is Flavia the Flamingo, who apparently took over 80 hours to build. Did you know that a group of flamingoes is called a flamboyance?

Here is Natalie the NeNe (pronounce NeighNeigh). It took the builders 100 hours to put her together and the information board told us that the NeNe is the National bird of Hawaii.

Next was Bruce the Red-Breasted Goose and he took 120 hours to build (June and December both thought that was a very long time). We were all amazed to find out that these birds build their nests close to peregrine falcon nests for protection from predators.

Here is Mac the Mallard who was 100 hours in the making. Did you know that he is a drake and that the brown coloured female Mallard is a hen?

Suki the Spoonie, or Spoon-billed Sandpiper, are on the edge of extinction and WWT have an 'ark population' at their Slimbridge site as well as teams working in Russia and around the world to try and save them.



Here's Chris the Crane who only took 90 hours to build!

Cranes were once extinct in the UK but WWT told us that they have been re-introducing them to the countryside since 2010 - 100 cranes were raised at Slimbridge and released onto the Somerset Levels.

At this point, our Giant Lego Creature hunt was interrupted by a Swan and Cygnet path block! 

They weren't showing any signs of moving and, as we had been advised to not disturb birds with young, we returned to the Visitor Centre where I waited for my husband and the girls whilst they searched for the final creatures on their maps.

These weren't part of the Lego creature hunt, but I thought I would share this photo as it was really dramatic and I love these beetles.

Say hello to Lottie the Otter who took 120 hours to build. Did you know that otters were almost extinct in the UK back in the 1970's? Fortunately they are now slowly making a comeback.

This is Benedict the Bewick's Swan and it took the builders 95 hours to put him together. The interesting fact on the board for Benedict was that each individual Bewick's swan can be identified by its unique bill pattern.

This beautiful bird is Kate the Kingfisher and her build time was 100 hours. 

Did you know that Kingfishers often nest in burrows that they dig in riverbanks and that they are under threat due to pollution and the destruction of their wetland habitat?

Apparently Kate is famous, having appeared on Blue Peter where one of the presenters (Barney Harwood) added her final bricks.