#227: Banking on it

Nan Shepherd appears on the Scottish £5 note. This is one example of Natural History appearing on currency. What other examples can students find?

Here's the story of the design of the banknote. It's been in circulation since 2016. There is a lot of symbology in the image choices for the design.

Nan Shepherd is the author of 'The Living Mountain', about the Cairngorms. It's one of the most influential pieces of nature writing and has influenced othr writers such as Robert MacFarlane.

As well as an image of Shepherd, the RBS £5 note features a quote from the author’s first novel, The Quarry Wood – “It’s a grand thing to get leave to live” – and one from her meditation on the Scottish landscape, The Living Mountain: “But the struggle between frost and the force in running water is not quickly over. The battle fluctuates, and at the point of fluctuation between the motion in water and the immobility of frost, strange and beautiful forms are evolved.”

The reverse of the £5 note features an excerpt from Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean’s poem The Choice, which translates into English as “I walked with my reason, out beside the sea”

The note also features an image of a midge, to “represent the reality of everyday living in the Scottish countryside”, according to RBS. “It’s a reminder that Scottish nature nips us as well as thrills us,” said Macfarlane.

Bonus points too if you can identify the type of fish being shown on the back of the note.