Bank of England picks puffin, owl, bee and hedgehog for the next notes

The Bank of England said on Thursday that four animals will replace historical figures as the central images on the next series of Bank of England notes. The Atlantic puffin, the barn owl, the buff-tailed bumblebee and the European hedgehog will each stand on one denomination. The Bank has not decided which animal goes on the 5, the 10, the 20 or the 50 pound note. That choice will be announced closer to launch. The first denomination of the new series is expected over the next few years, not this year.

The decision follows a public consultation that ran from 3 June to 3 July 2026. The Bank received 478,531 responses, which it says is the largest reply it has ever had to a banknote imagery consultation. Those responses contained 2,549,003 selections from a shortlist of 18 animals, drawn up with a panel of wildlife specialists and split into three groups: mammals; birds; and amphibians, insects and fish.

The vote, and the one animal that did not win its group

Three of the four winners were the most popular animal in their category. The buff-tailed bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, received 360,399 nominations, the highest single total and nearly 90,000 more than the barn owl. The barn owl, Tyto alba, led the birds with 270,596. The European hedgehog, Erinaceus europaeus, led the mammals with 259,665. The Atlantic puffin, Fratercula arctica, is the exception. It received 183,137 nominations. The red fox, among mammals, and the common kingfisher, among birds, drew more nominations than the puffin. The Bank selected the puffin because it was the most popular marine animal, and because a seabird would make the four notes easier to tell apart and would put the coastline on the series.

Victoria Cleland, the Bank's chief cashier, said nearly half a million people had answered, which she took as evidence that cash still matters. She thanked people who came to the Bank's events and said the four animals show the range of wildlife in the United Kingdom and will also strengthen the security of the notes. Rhys Phillips, the incoming chief cashier, said the design work now is to test and produce notes that combine the animals with security features and materials work. The Bank's own release frames the animals as a counterfeit measure as well as a picture. Distinctive central images are part of how a note is checked by eye.

People come off the face. The King stays

This is the first time animals have replaced people on Bank of England notes. The current series carries historical figures, among them Winston Churchill on the 5 pound note. The Guardian reported that an image of King Charles will continue on the other side of the 5, 10, 20 and 50 pound notes. The Bank's release on Thursday did not dwell on that point. It said each note will also carry other elements from nature, which may include animals that were shortlisted and did not win a denomination.

The BBC reported that the choice to drop people angered a number of leading politicians. The Bank has not published a list of those objections in its release. The practical timetable is slower than the argument. Design, testing and production of a new series take years. Existing notes remain legal tender until the Bank withdraws them, and a withdrawal date has not been set because the new notes do not yet exist as finished designs.

What the animals already mean on British money

Two of the four are not new to British cash. The puffin and the bee already appear on coins, on the Royal Mint's redesigned 20 pence and 1 pound pieces. Putting them on notes as well ties the two sides of the cash system, but the note designs are a separate job. A coin relief and a printed note do not share plates.

The natural history is part of why the shortlist existed. Atlantic puffins spend most of the year at sea and come ashore in summer to nest in burrows, including on the Farne Islands and on Lundy. The species is listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list, a point the Guardian recorded in its account of the announcement. Barn owls hunt over open ground and are already one of the most recognised birds on British road signs and nature reserves. The buff-tailed bumblebee is a common garden species and a pollinator. The European hedgehog has declined in parts of Britain and is a regular subject of local conservation counts. The Bank did not claim that a picture on a note will change those numbers. Cleland's stated aim is recognition of wildlife, plus a note that is harder to fake.

For cashiers and for machines, the open question is denomination. A bee and a hedgehog read differently at a glance. A puffin and an owl also read differently, but only if the printed size, colour and window placement do the work the Bank says they will. Phillips's job, once he takes the cashier's desk, is to turn four popular animals into four notes that a shop worker can separate in a second. The public has already voted. The printing has not started.