Discover a range of ideas for wildlife-themed stocking fillings to bring delight this Christmas morning to your wildlife-mad friends and family. We've gathered together our favourites from a variety of sources, including a number of small businesses and charities, and many of them also support wildlife conservation initiatives too.
Looking for more gift ideas? Check out our round-ups of wildlife-themed jigsaw puzzles, gifts for wildlife lovers, gifts for nature-loving children, and art print gifts.
Deep Sea Creatures
This one's suitable for both children and adults that are young at heart! LEGO has a wide range of wildlife-themed packs to choose from (we're a bit starry-eyed by the 1500-piece bricks and animals set).
This 3-in-1 Deep Sea Creatures set has 230-pieces enabling you to make a shark with movable body joints, a posable crab and a box of treasure. Plus, you can dissemble them and follow the instructions to make a squid or an angler fish (and for a bonus, there's also instructions on the LEGO website for a whale), or whatever else you can come up with!
Discover more animal LEGO sets best dinosaur LEGO sets for adults and children article.
Milk chocolate turtles
Reinvent your Christmas chocolate giving with these milk chocolate turtles by Chococo, a husband and wife team making handmade chocolates on Dorset's Jurassic Coast.
These are made from 45% Venezuelan origin milk chocolate, and 30p (5%) from the sale of each box goes to the Ocean Giants Programme, an international conservation charity protecting the world's largest and most threatened species, including whale sharks and manta rays. If dark chocolate is more to your taste, they also create chocolate turtles from 67% Madagascar origin dark chocolate.
Wildlife bamboo socks
- Buy now from Hedgy Socks (£9.99).
Return to the traditional of giving socks for Christmas, but with a wildlife twist! Set up earlier in 2021, Hedgy Socks is a new shop making wildlife-themed socks from bamboo (80% bamboo, 17% spandex, 3% nylon).
For each pair sold, 10% of the total trade price is donated to the Vale Wildlife Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre in Gloucestershire. There's a range of designs available including stags (pictured), robins, hedgehogs, bees and frogs – so you're bound to find a suitable design for your loved one!
Discover even more fabulous wildlife-themed socks.
Waders beanie hat
Keep heads warm this winter with a bird-themed double insulate beanie hat! Ornithologist, author and presenter Dan Rouse has created three designs featuring different groups of birds: black and white waders (grey beanie, pictured), egrets (red beanie) and seabirds (blue beanie).
Discover more kit for wildlife watching in winter.
Ocean candle
Amber (the creator of the Otter Candle Co) has teamed up with the charity Zoological Society of London (ZSL) to create four scented candles for them – Ocean, Rainforest, Polar and Grasslands. Each has a different combination of scents (my personal favourite is the mango, lime and lotus combination of the Rainforest candle), and comes in a clear glass jar with a screw-on lid – great for reusing afterwards!
David Attenborough bookmark
The renowned broadcaster and conservationist Sir David Attenborough can now accompany your loved one's reading with this bookmark by Southsea-based designer Daisy Harris-Burland, featuring one of his most famous quotes, “I just love a good leaf”.
There's also a range of other quoted figures (both real-life and fictional) available as bookmarks, including Hermione Granger (from Harry Potter), Princess Leia (from Star Wars), and actor Jeff Goldblum.
Want more Attenborough in your life (a silly question we know)? Check out the best David Attenborough books, best David Attenborough documentaries to watch, and animals and plants named after Sir David Attenborough.
Window bird feeder
See robins, tits, sparrows and other garden birds up close with this ingenious suction-cup feeder, which has a detachable tray for easy cleaning and refilling.
Read our reviews of window bird feeders for even more choice.
Green tiger beetle wooden pin badge
Handmade in the UK, this pin badge is made from responsible sourced European birch wood and is roughly 30mm wide. 10% of the profits from this Etsy shop by Katie Waddington go to the Buglife charity, and all the pins are of insects photographed by Katie, including a green tiger beetle (pictured above), a marbled white butterfly, a cinnabar moth and a rhinoceros beetle. Each pin comes on a yellow backing card with information about the species.
Discover more wildlife-themed enamel and wooden pins.
Gola Rainforest chocolate bars
A tempting treat with a forest- friendly origin makes for a guilt- free chocolate hit. These Gola Rainforest bars are made from cocoa that’s grown in the shade of forest trees, meaning the crop doesn’t have the same impact on the local ecosystem as traditional farmland.
If that wasn’t enough, profits from sales will be reinvested into the Gola Rainforest Cocoa Forest, to help protect wildlife and support local communities. Choose between a 60% milk chocolate (rich, fudgy and not overly sweet) and a vegan 70% dark chocolate (fruity, smooth and not at all bitter).
Reviewed by Angharad Moran, former production editor, BBC Wildlife
Garden birds tin
Featuring charming portraits of British garden birds by award-winning artist Hannah Dale, this tin is perfect for tasty treats. Tins come in a variety of sizes with different designs, this garden birds one is 23.7cm x 10cm x 9.5cm.
Birds playing cards
- Buy now from Laurence King (£8.99), Amazon (£8.99), Waterstones (£8.99).
Introduce an ornithological element to your game nights. Each of the cards in this delightful deck is adorned with a different bird species illustrated by Ryuto Miyake. The traditional suits are colour co-ordinated – diamonds feature a snowy egret and Bali mynah; a hummingbird and Victoria crowned pigeon are placed within spades; a flamingo and scarlet ibis are part of the clubs family; while a raven and long-wattled umbrellabird are included in the hearts suit.
With an educational aspect for younger players and the chance to admire lovely artwork, your games may take a little longer but what’s the rush?
Reviewed by Angharad Moran, former production editor, BBC Wildlife
Discover the best wildlife board games and 9 of the best wildlife-themed games for children.
Main image: Christmas stockings. © Image Source/Getty
