A town on the edge of Norwich has been invaded by striking sea creatures.

Eastern Daily Press: A penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYA penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2020)

People either visiting or living in Sprowston will have noticed an array of sculptures popping up around the town, including sharks, dolphins and tortoises.

Eastern Daily Press: A penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYA penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2020)

And the impressive sculptures, which are made from pieces of rubbish, are no accident - they very much ended up there on porpoise.

Eastern Daily Press: A penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYA penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2020)

The 12 sculptures are the work of members of the Sprowston Youth Engagement Project (SYEP), which worked alongside hundreds of local schoolchildren in a long-spanning project.

Eastern Daily Press: A penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYA penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2020)

The theme of the project came from 16-year-old group member Maya Wright, who suggested the group do something to raise awareness of the impact plastic has on our seas and oceans.

Eastern Daily Press: A penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYA penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2020)

Clare Lincoln, SYEP project leader, said: “As a group we try to do as much as we can to help the environment and one of the things we’ve done in the past is litter pick. That’s where this idea came from.

Eastern Daily Press: A penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYA penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2020)

“We always look to deliver events and projects that benefit the community, so decided to do a sculpture trail that people can really enjoy but will also get a message across.”

Eastern Daily Press: A penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEYA penguin at Sprowston Junior School which is part of a sea creatures art sculpture trail around Sprowston made from plastic rubbish. Picture: DENISE BRADLEY (Image: Copyright: Archant 2020)

The 12 sculptures have been dotted across 11 different locations around Sprowston, where they will remain until Wednesday, August 5 - with the group also having put together a map of the sites so people can see them all.

Eastern Daily Press: A hand drawn map showing the locations of Sprowston's sea creatures. Picture: SYEPA hand drawn map showing the locations of Sprowston's sea creatures. Picture: SYEP (Image: SYEP)

They include two sharks, three penguins, a seal, a whale and a coral reef, and were all produced from items of litter collected by the group - along with supplementary arts and crafts materials.

Miss Lincoln, 40, added: “We had originally planned to showcase them in a different way, but coronavirus got in the way, so we just decided to put them in place and let people spot them that way.

“It’s been really nice seeing people talking about them on Facebook and they’ve had some really lovely feedback.

“Around 1,000 children worked on the project in total.”

The project included pupils from Sparhawk Infant and Nursery School, Cecil Gowing Infact School, Falcon Junior School, Sprowston Junior School and White House Farm Primary School - and was funded by Clarion Futures.