A Wiltshire-based artist has designed a new set of stamps for Royal Mail to celebrate the Britain's successfully restored wildlife.

The stamps are illustrated by Tanya Achilleos Lock and celebrate the reintroduction of plants and animals previously extinct or endangered in the UK.

They feature the eurasian beaver, the pool frog, the sand lizard, the large blue butterfly, the osprey and the stinking hawks-beard.

Tanya focuses on wildlife in her art - she was born in New Zealand, which imparted a lifelong interest in natural history, particularly birds.

She’s won awards from the BBC for her work, including Wildlife Artist 2013 in the categories ‘World Birds’ and ‘Animals in their Environment’.

Royal Mail spokesperson Philip Parker said: “When a plant or animal becomes extinct in a country, that does not have to be the end of the story. Our beautiful new stamps mark the skill and expertise of conservationists in reintroducing species back to their former environments.”

More than 400 specials of animals and plants are estimated to have become extinct over the past two centuries in the UK.

But conservationists have successfully reintroduced various species across the country.

The stamps are available nationwide from Post Offices from April 17 and can be pre-ordered here: www.royalmail.com/reintroducedspecies