10 Pence - Elizabeth II Dormouse

Issued as part of Guernsey's ongoing wildlife decimal series, this piece belongs to a run of commemorative circulating coinage that the States of Guernsey has used since the 1980s to distinguish its issues from mainland British currency. The dormouse — specifically the Eurasian hazel dormouse — is a legally protected species in the UK and Channel Islands under the Conservation of Habitats Regulations, its numbers having declined by roughly 70% since the 1990s largely due to habitat fragmentation and loss of coppiced woodland.