The Bank of England (BOE) announced last week that the next generation of banknotes it will issue will feature depictions of wildlife native to the UK, rather than historical figures, including painter J.M.W. Turner.
The decision comes after the BOE held a consultation in July 2025 asking the public to vote on six categories that could appear on the forthcoming notes, according to various criteria, which include that it “symbolises the UK,” “resonates with the public,” “is not divisive,” and “is enduring.”
The BOE received more than 44,000 responses to the consultation, with people being able to select multiple options in their responses, as well as suggesting their own. In the vote, 60 percent of respondents selected “Nature” as one of their preferred themes for the new banknotes. “Architecture and Landmarks” received 56 percent, while “Notable Historical Figures” received 38 percent and “Arts, Culture and Sport” getting 30 percent.
“I was delighted by the level of public engagement during our banknote theme consultation last year,” Victoria Cleland, the BOE’s chief cashier, said in a statement. “The response underlines how important banknotes remain to people. The key driver for introducing a new banknote series is always to increase counterfeit resilience, but it also provides an opportunity to celebrate different aspects of the UK. Nature is a great choice from a banknote authentication perspective and means we can showcase the UK’s rich and varied wildlife on the next series of banknotes.”
While the introduction of wildlife to the banknotes will be different, each note will continue to have an image of the British monarch, as well as a representation of each of the UK’s four constituent countries: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
To select which depictions of UK wildlife will appear on the banknotes, the BOE has empaneled six experts to create a list of wildlife that will then be voted on as part of a public consultation this summer. (The public will be able to suggest additional wildlife once the consultation opens.)
The BOE has not said when the new notes will appear, saying only that they will appear in “a few years” and that the “complexity of banknotes means it is a detailed, multi-year process to design, test and print them, ensuring they are high-quality, resilient and accessible,” per a release.
The six experts include wildlife broadcasters Gordon Buchanan, Miranda Krestovnikoff, and Nadeem Perera; professors Steve Ormerod (Cardiff University) and Dawn Scott (Nottingham Trent University); and Katy Bell, a senior conservationist at the nonprofit Ulster Wildlife.
“The wildlife of the UK is not separate from our culture,” Perera said in a statement. “It sits in our football crests, our folklore, our coastlines and our childhoods. Giving it space on something as symbolic as our currency feels both overdue and significant.”
The selected depictions will eventually replace the following historical figures: former prime minister Winston Churchill (£5), author Jane Austen (£10), mathematician Alan Turing (£50), and Turner (£20), who bequeathed around 100 of his finished paintings, as well as hundreds of unfinished ones, watercolors, and drawings, to the British nation upon his death in 1851. Turner is also the namesake of the annual Turner Prize, awarded to a contemporary artist by Tate each year.
The BOE has issued banknotes since its founding in 1694, with historical figures first appearing on them in 1970. The first current G series notes, the £5 note of Churchhill, were first introduced in 2016, with a polymer printing replacing the long-standing paper cotton ones. The Turner £20 note first went into circulation in February 2020.
The forthcoming banknotes will also “incorporate the latest anti-counterfeiting technology,” the BOE said in a release, adding that it had “judged that wildlife images would be most effective for developing banknotes with security features that are easy for the public to recognise and distinguish.”
