10 Pence - Elizabeth II Swallowtail

Guernsey's decision to feature the swallowtail butterfly on circulating coinage reflects a genuine local distinction — the island is one of the last strongholds in the British Isles for Papilio machaon britannicus, the British subspecies, which disappeared from its last English habitat in the Norfolk Broads by the 1950s. Guernsey's endemic population has persisted largely due to the abundance of milk parsley on the island's clifftop habitats.

The nickel plated steel composition dates the issue firmly to the post-2012 cost-saving transition away from cupro-nickel across most British dependencies.