In marking our 60th anniversary this year, we’ve delved deep into the Trust’s history, celebrating achievements and sharing stories from the last 60 years. However, we’ve also been looking to the future, with ongoing and upcoming work such as our Riverwoods, Living Landscapes and Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels projects.  

On top of all that, we’ve also been working on a project that focuses on the future in a more literal sense – our 60th anniversary time capsule.

This small box – which will be sealed at an event at the Scottish Parliament this month – contains a specially-selected collection of items that bring together our past, present and ambitions for the future. Once sealed, the capsule will remain unopened until the Trust’s 100th anniversary in 2064.  

The time capsule box itself was specially created by CCI Scotland, a social enterprise close to our Falls of Clyde reserve, using locally sourced sustainable beech from Lanarkshire. 

Here’s a look at some of the items that will be included in the capsule. 

Supporting the Trust in 2024 

The Scottish Wildlife Trust couldn’t exist without its members, so it seems fitting that we start with some of the items that represent what it means to be a member in 2024. These include the latest copy of Scottish Wildlife magazine, an animal adoption pack and a copy of our reserves guide, highlighting the incredible range of work the Trust undertakes thanks to support from our members. 

We will also be including the winning entries from our Words of the Wild competition. Running through summer and autumn this year, the competition encouraged new works of nature writing focusing on Scotland’s wildlife and wild places. We received over 500 entries, including prose, poems, letters and songs in English, Scots and Gaelic. The winners of both the Adult and Junior categories will be announced at November’s parliamentary event, and their entries will be placed into the capsule just moments before it is sealed.

The latest issues of our magazine, Scottish wildlife. 

Iconic species 

One of our hopes for this time capsule is that, when opened, it will provide a stark contrast to how the natural world looks in 2064.  

With that in mind, we will be including maps of both beaver and red squirrel distribution across Scotland. With the former only recently reintroduced to Scotland and the latter facing threats such as habitat loss and invasive non-native grey squirrels, we hope these maps will be long out of date in 2064, with both species thriving at ecologically sustainable levels. 

To further represent these two species, both pillars of Scotland’s wildlife and the Trust’s work, the capsule will also contain a red squirrel hair sample taken from a Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels survey site, and a collection of wood chips gnawed from a tree in Knapdale, the location of the Trust-led Scottish Beaver Trial.  

Wood chips gnawed by a beaver, and red squirrel hairs viewed through a microscope. 

The next generation 

A huge part of our role as Scotland’s leading conservation charity is to inspire the next generation of naturalists. Key to this are our Wildlife Watch groups, where young people come together to discover and share their passion for nature. Representatives from our Edinburgh and Glasgow groups have written letters to the future, outlining what they hope to see for Scotland’s wildlife in 2064. 

Another element of our youth work is the Young Leaders group – members ages 20-30 who help ensure young voices are heard in the conservation sector. In the lead up to COP26 in 2021, the group collated a Youth Manifesto for Action on Climate Change, including contributions from hundreds of young people across the UK.  

How will the hopes outlined in these letters and manifesto look when the time capsule is opened in 2064? Perhaps some of these young people will be tomorrow’s conservation champions and help create the change they want to see. 

Poster of the Glasgow Wildlife Watch Group’s hopes for the future.

This is just a taste of what’s included in the time capsule. Check out our follow up blog, where we focus on some of the items selected at this year’s National Members’ Day.