Ahead of the next tariff increase Royal Mail will issue a set consisting only of 2nd class and 1st class stamps depicting Garden Wildlife. As pointed out on Commonwealth Stamps Opinion, this follows a similar series of River Wildlife two years ago.
Might this mean Woodland, Moorland and Seashore Wildlife in future years? (I hope this doesn't put ideas into the minds of the stamp commissioners at Royal Mail - they do read this!)
This stamp issue is a celebration of the plethora of amazing species that inhabit the UK’s gardens, from frogs to foxes, bees to badgers.
It is estimated that there are some 24 million gardens in the UK which support a huge diversity of wildlife. Gardens can contain a wide range of habitats, including flowerbeds, shrubs, fruiting trees, lawns, ponds, vegetable plots, compost bins and woodpiles. When managed with wildlife at heart, they provide food, water and refuge to enable many species to thrive.
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| Garden Wildlife stamps issued 11 March 2025 |
The stamps
2nd class: Fox, Blackbird, Common Frog, Blue Tit, Badger
1st class: Smooth newt, Hedgehog, Robin, Buff-tailed Bumblebee, Garden Snail.
Technical Details and acknowledgements
The 41 x 30 mm stamps, designed by Stop, Look, Listen, are printed in litho by Cartor Security Printers in sheets of 50. The 2nd class do have the single phosphor band this time.
Fox © Rosemary Roberts/Alamy Stock Photo; Blackbird © Kim Taylor/naturepl.com; Common Frog and Robin © Mark Hamblin/2020VISION/naturepl.com; Blue Tit, photograph by Ben Birchall © PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo; Badger © Lee Hudson/Alamy Stock Photo; Smooth Newt © David Kjaer/naturepl.com; Hedgehog © Guy Edwardes/naturepl.com; Buff-tailed Bumblebee © Ernie Janes/naturepl.com; Garden Snail © Stephen Dalton/naturepl.com.
Collector Sheet
Not able to let an money-making opportunity go, Royal Mail have also produced a collector sheet with all 10 stamps alongside labels depicting the same species. I wrote this about the Business Customised Sheets in 2011 six years before the facility was ended.
The stamp dealers, in conjunction with Royal Mail, were producing - in
effect - glossy colourful posters, which happened to have 10 or 20 1st
class stamps in them. Purely money-making, not even philatelic.
So Royal Mail are also producing unnecessary 'posters' which happen to have stamps in them, going so far as to use different printing process or paper (these are self-adhesive of course), so that collectors who must have everything want these as well. It doesn't help that some preprinted albums and catalogues list the individual stamps separately even though they will never be used - at least not until sold for discount postage. This is £13.70 compared with the £12.50 face value. (After the tariff increase, of course, they will be worth more!)
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| 2025 Garden Wildlife Collectors Poster with self-adhesive stamps |
Products available
Set of 10 stamps, presentation pack, first day cover, stamp cards, collector sheet, framed set.
Previously from Royal Mail
Most people wouldn't regard the badger as a garden animal, though obviously some do visit gardens, though not as many as foxes, which are also not primarily garden animals, hence both featured in the 2004 Woodland Animals set on our website. Incidentally we still have some of these limited edition (25) FDCs available for this issue: they marked the 1350th Anniversary of Dereham, and were postmarked at the town Post Office.
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| Woodland Animals 2004 first day cover - price now £7.50 |
