If plants are their buds or they just need to take a hike — top gift ideas for nature lovers

Quality outdoor clothing is always welcome for those who spend time in nature — warm and rain-resistant is key

Gifts for the outdoors enthusiast in your life: waterproof trousers, binoculars, calendula balm or a thermos flask can all make great presents 

For nature enthusiasts, there are lots of things that can make outings in natural world more comfortable or help with wildlife watching. I’ve come up with a few suggestions of Christmas gifts for the nature enthusiast in your life. Some might even be just what you want to find under the tree on Christmas morning — there's still time to drop a hint!

Anyone who likes their tea or coffee will appreciate a quality thermos flask for adventures in the outdoors. Nothing beats a nice hot cuppa after trekking to the summit, canoeing to the island, or when spending a morning out watching sea birds or whales from a cold and blustery headland. On that note, gloves can tend to go astray, so a new pair of mittens can make a welcome gift.

Quality outdoor clothing is always welcome for those who spend time in nature. A pair of ‘technological’ trousers, as I like to call them, made with rain-resistant but breathable fabric, are an excellent addition to the nature lovers wardrobe. They won’t get wet when caught out in rain shower and if you fall into the bog and get soaked, they will at least dry off quickly.

Properly designed hiking socks make a big difference to the comfort of hiking boots and how good (or bad) your feet might feel at the end of a good day out in the hills. Hiking socks cost much more than basic socks, so can make a superb gift, though make sure you chose the right size — a good fit is key to the performance of hiking socks.

After a good weekend of hiking, climbing or trekking, muscles can feel the strain. A nice tub of handmade calendula soothing balm for aching muscles will go down a treat.

For those who might like a little comfort, a ‘sit-mat’ is a luxurious addition to trekking kit. Handy little self–inflating sit-mats pack away neatly and make those tea breaks in the hills or woods even more pleasant, with the added benefit of keeping your backside dry.

There are a whole variety of lenses that augment what we can see while out and about. A sturdy, compact hand lens is an excellent gift for anyone interested in observing the details of plants and flowers and learning to identifying specific species. A hand lens also reveals intricate and beautiful details in things like butterfly wings or lichens.

I bought myself a small zoom monocular this summer and am fascinated by all that it reveals. A zoom monocular lets you zoom in on a damselfly in the reeds by the edge of a lake, a cryptically coloured moth on a tree branch or the bumblebee that will likely fly off if you take another step closer.

Good quality binoculars make an excellent gift for a budding birder or whale watcher, though anyone with an interest in birds or the outdoors may already have their own binoculars. The best ‘bins’ are both powerful and lightweight which means they can be pricey.

A good head torch is an excellent gift for anyone who likes being out in nature at night-time, whether camping or wildlife watching. I find the USB chargeable head torches handy and having a head torch with a red light setting is best of all. Red-coloured light doesn’t disturb the night vision that takes about 30 minutes to properly set in so won't disrupt your night vision when venturing out on nighttime adventures.

A bat detector makes a highly original gift. Bat detectors are hand-held instruments that detect the ultrasound frequencies made by bats — frequencies that are too high for the human ear to hear — and convert these sounds into frequencies that our human ears can hear. A bat detector is an essential piece of equipment for anyone developing an interest in bats and who wants to watch and identify these amazing little animals. A bat detector can even be surprisingly entertaining for adults and children alike, providing audible insights to the world of bats.

A simple pocket notebook is something most nature enthusiasts will carry around, to note down observations of plants, animals and natural phenomenon and queries to look up later. A lightweight notebook with a sturdy cover that can fit in a knapsack or a big pocket is ideal.

A gorgeous gift for anyone with a garden is a potted native tree for planting out or a voucher for a tree nursery that supplies native provenance saplings.

Bird feeders come in many styles and sizes, some for holding high-energy suet balls, some for nuts and seeds, and others for tiny nyjer seeds that goldfinches and greenfinches adore. Birdfeeders that become a focal point for lots of different small songbirds bring life and colour to the garden during winter months. Beware of gimmicky or overly ornate feeders which might look especially pretty but are not designed with birds’ best interests in mind.

Similarly, a nice bird bath offers birds a regular supply of clean water to drink from and clean themselves in. Like a bird feeder, bird baths have to be well designed with birds in mind if they are to do the job they’ve been made for.

For folks who like foraging for wild food, a handmade willow foraging basket is a beautiful gift. Choose one that is shallow and open so that all the lovely mushrooms or blackberries that are gathered up won't pile up to crush each other. A handle to hook around your arm allows you keep your hands free for harvesting.

For a true investment in Ireland’s natural environment, gift a membership subscription to an Irish conservation charity such as the Irish Wildlife Trust, BirdWatch Ireland, An Taisce, or the Irish Seed Savers Association, all of which are full of committed enthusiasts working hard on behalf of Ireland’s wild plants and animals, providing a vital voice for wildlife. Each of these organisations posts out superbly produced and informative magazines to members a few times each year.