'Non-stuff' Christmas gifts for nature lovers - in pictures

1. Let's start with the obvious - but still great: membership of a wildlife organisation. For families, join a child to Wildlife Watch, the junior arm of the Wildlife Trusts federation, which for £15 for the year offers extra membership cards for siblings, a regular magazine, and events every month, usually suitable from 8 years old Photograph: wildlifewatch.org.uk

2. Courses are a great virtual gift for anybody. For a lower-carbon version, you could gift a vegetarian or, better still in this context, vegan cookery course: check out the website Lookingtocook Photograph: Lorne Campbell/Lorne Campbell for The Guardian

3. You don't need to eat vegetarian food to cut your carbon footprint, however. Somebody could learn to seek out their own ingredients instead of relying on mass production. A seashore foraging day with John Wright at the River Cottage starts at £165 Photograph: Daniel Rushall for The Guardian

4. A tree, or even half an acre of rainforest. You are not buying them exactly, but sponsoring them via the charity Cool Earth, which uses the money to help local people get an income from stopping the forest from being cut down. From £3 for a tree or £30 for half an acre, you can survey your bit of rainforest via satellite. And not a deadly spider in sight Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

5. Pond Conservation offer sponsorship of different species to raise money for their Million Ponds Campaign in the UK. Prices range from £10 for the tassel stonewort plant to £15 for a great crested newt or more cuddly water vole. Or better still perhaps, build a pond for real: all you need to know is on their website Photograph: Ashley Cooper/Corbis

6. Oxfam Unwrapped, which popularised ethical and virtual giving, offers several options for 'Eco Warriors' or garden lovers, including a rainwater collection kit for £18 plus an optional £1.50 delivery charge Photograph: Oxfam

7. Like ethical giving, gift experiences have taken off in recent years. You can fork out a fortune for an off-the-shelf one. Or organise your own for somebody who has dreamed of seeing a swan fall, watching badgers or touching a tree which has been alive since the Ottoman Empire. The Woodland Trust's Ancient Tree Project can teach you to find and identify ancient trees Photograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian

8. For more professional help, there are many variations on wildlife watching experiences around the country. In south-west London, the Barnes Wetlands Trust offers guided tours for groups daily for £45 for the first hour, £25 for subsequent hours for up to two adults Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

9. No Christmas list is complete without books, and for the virtual list, iTunes sells gift cards and has a science and nature section to browse in. Or go straight to Janet Browne, whose hard-to-put-down two-part biography of Charles Darwin - Voyaging and The Power of Place - is available to download. Browne also offers an audio book of her 'biography' of Darwin's On The Origin of Species. And 'The Origin' itself is free Photograph: Martin Argles/Guardian

10. Learn to cut up animals. OK so it doesn't sound very festive - though given the usual Christmas table spread with turkey, ham, bacon and sausages, very appropriate. Amateur butchery has made something of a comeback, and is a great way to make better use of all the bits of animals which are traditionally wasted, and save money. If the local butcher won't help out, you can use Google to find courses near you. What comes out top for a UK search is the multi-award winning Ginger Pig in London, which sells vouchers for any of its classes (including sausage making) for £135 Photograph: Simon Newman/Reuters