Herd In The City baby elephant at Southend Pier stuns passers-by

The sculpture, named P-Nut, is part of Herd In The City, of which the Echo is a proud media partner, and it is located at the entrance of the pier.

It was created by aircraft crew and executive jet passenger seating company Ipeco.

They used nuts and bolts from a factory floor which are usually used for aeroplane seats and galley units to create the impressive sculpture.

The elephant, weighs a whopping 33.5 kgs, and is the heaviest baby in the mini herd and even has a bespoke coat made from a seatbelt and sheepskin normally used on pilot seats.

Believe it or nut - Kaye Mercene from Ipeco with P-Nut (Image: Havens Hospices)

Originally designed by the company’s finance director, Sarah Nash, it took three months for several employees to construct the baby elephant.

Kaye Mercene, one of the apprentices involved in the project, said: “I wanted to do something creative, so I asked to volunteer as an opportunity to get involved.

“It was a challenge to get the nuts and bolts to stick, so we had to experiment with different types of glue. We did try to count the number of nuts and bolts but lost count after a while!”

P-Nut can be found in the window of the entrance to Southend’s award-winning pier with his girlfriend Twinkle Toes, a bejewelled baby elephant.

Herd In The City’s 46 large elephant sculptures and baby elephants have stomped into the streets of the Southend, Shoeburyness and Leigh and will be in place until Monday 4 September.

The care is provided absolutely free of charge and is only made possible thanks to donations and fundraising initiatives such as Herd In The City.

After the trail ends, the large and baby sculptures will join together to say goodbye at the ‘Farewell Weekend’ on September 23 and 24 at Saxon Hall. This opportunity will allow people to see all the large and baby elephant sculptures in one place after their summer showcase across Southend. Find out more and book tickets at www.herdinthe.city/farewell