All the animals shortlisted to feature on new banknotes

Some are excluded

On the next series of Bank of England notes, the wildlife beauty contest gives the colourful kingfisher and common frog an equal chance of a place.

Earlier this year, the replacement of historical characters, particularly Sir Winston Churchill, with British wildlife sent political leaders into a frenzy.

However, now people have a month to offer their views about which species of wildlife should be honoured on the £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes.

One important thing to know is that household pets are excluded from the shortlist which was chosen by a panel of wildlife experts.

From the shortlist, people can vote for up to six of their favourites.

“I very much hope the public will enjoy engaging in our consultation to choose the animals to feature on our next series of banknotes”, said Victoria Cleland, the Bank's chief cashier, whose signature appears on banknotes.

“The shortlisted animals demonstrate the rich variety of wildlife we have to celebrate in the UK.”

How the voting is done

As the new banknotes will each feature one creature, the public will be able to select up to two of their favourites from each of three categories on the shortlist, prior to the the deadline of the end of 3 July.

The mammals are: the bottlenose dolphin, the brown hare, the European hedgehog, the grey seal, the pine marten and the red fox.

The second category of birds feature: the Atlantic puffin, the barn owl, the common kingfisher, the Eurasian curlew, the great spotted woodpecker, and the white-tailed eagle.

The final section of amphibians, insects and fish, has: the Atlantic salmon, the basking shark, the buff-tailed bumblebee, the common frog, the Emperor dragonfly, and the marsh fritillary butterfly.

The contenders were chosen by a panel of experts which is made up of wildlife filmmakers and presenters Gordon Buchanan, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Nadeem Perera, alongside Ulster Wildlife's Katy Bell, and academics Steve Ormerod and Dawn Scott.

It will be Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, however, who makes the final decision, not necessarily choosing the four animals that receive the highest number of public responses.