King Charles 10p coin with grouse design appears in change across Britain

A new 10p coin featuring the portrait of King Charles and the world's largest grouse has entered circulation across Britain, the first time the denomination has been minted for general use in about four years. The Royal Mint has released 7.1 million of the new pieces – 600,000 dated 2023 and 6.5 million dated 2026 – to banks and post offices nationwide, responding to sufficient demand after a prolonged pause in production.

The reverse of the coin depicts a capercaillie, a bird found in a small part of Scotland that is now threatened with extinction. The design is based on an illustration by Mike Langman, a former artist for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, whose work appears across the charity's nature reserves. The tails side of every newly minted coin from the 1p to the £2 now features native flora and fauna, from bees to oak tree leaves, as part of a redesigned suite unveiled in October 2023 to celebrate the King's love of the natural world.

Coins bearing the King's portrait have so far been limited to the 5p, 50p and £1 pieces. Old coins with the image of the late Queen Elizabeth II remain legal tender, and new coins are struck only in response to demand. With 1.4 billion 10p coins already in circulation, the Royal Mint had seen no need to release new ones until now. King Charles coins still represent only about 1 per cent of the 24.1 billion coins in circulation across the UK, making any new issues highly sought after by seasoned numismatists and new collectors alike.

The Royal Mint said it hoped the design would draw attention to the plight of the capercaillie, which has declined so rapidly that it is at risk of extinction for the second time and is on the UK conservation red list. "It's a stark reminder that more of these coins will enter circulation than there are capercaillies left in the wild," said Rebecca Morgan, director at the Royal Mint, based in Llantrisant, South Wales. "We hope that by putting this extraordinary bird into millions of pockets and purses, we can spark a nationwide conversation about a species at real risk of vanishing from Britain forever."

Bank of England banknotes will soon follow coins in using images of wildlife, replacing historical figures such as Sir Winston Churchill on the next series of £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes. Hundreds of thousands of votes were cast in a public consultation on a shortlist of 18 animals, birds and insects. Those votes, alongside security considerations, are now being considered by the bank, with its governor, Andrew Bailey, expected to make a final decision in the autumn.