Four native species selected after consultation, but which one adorns which note is yet to be decided
Bees, barn owls, puffins and hedgehogs have been picked to feature on the next generation of banknotes, the Bank of England has announced.
The quartet of creatures were selected after a large-scale consultation settled on wild animals as the theme, with members of the public then asked to pick their favourites out of 18 options divided into three categories.
The buff-tailed bumblebee got the most votes in the insects, fish and amphibian group; the barn owl won the bird division; and the European hedgehog was named top mammal. The Atlantic puffin was added to celebrate Britain’s coastline, the Bank said.
It is as yet undecided which species will adorn which banknote. An image of King Charles will continue to be represented on the other side of the £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes, which are expected to take several years to design.
Victoria Cleland, the Bank’s chief cashier, said: “I am delighted that nearly half-a-million people responded to our wildlife imagery consultation, showing that cash still matters.”
She said the public had chosen “four distinct and inspiring animals” that not only showcased the great variety of wildlife in the UK but would “also enhance the security of our banknotes”.
Among the species losing out were the basking shark, the common frog and the red fox – the last celebrated in David Attenborough’s recent Wild London documentary, but seen as a pest by some.
Atlantic puffins, with their distinctive multicoloured beaks, spend much of their lives at sea, coming ashore in summer to nest in burrows on clifftops on the coast including on the Farne Islands and Lundy.
With their numbers declining, the bird is classified as “vulnerable” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species.
The decision to replace the historical figures on the banknotes – including Winston Churchill and Jane Austen – prompted a backlash when first announced in March, with the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, accusing the Bank of “erasing our history”.
Badenoch called it “a silly thing to do”, adding: “I absolutely do not support it.” Her Reform UK counterpart, Nigel Farage, described the move as “absolutely crackers”.
The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, joined in, issuing a social media video in which he brandished a fiver and claimed that Churchill deserved “better than being replaced by a badger”.
The badger was not among the 18-strong shortlist of animals eventually published by the Bank in June.
That selection prompted the RSPCA to complain about the choice of animals on offer, calling for less obviously cute creatures to be included.
“Gulls, badgers, rats and pigeons all divide opinion, but this would have been a great opportunity to discuss these fantastic animals,” it said.
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