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Penguins, Parrots and Wine on Matiu / Somes Island

10,000 Birds

Since 1984 it has been planted with native bush and pests were controlled, and is now used as a wildlife reserve. Spotted skink ( Oligosoma lineoocellatum ), one of the island’s many reptiles The west coast of Matiu / Somes with New Zealand flax ( Phornium ) and a cabbage tree ( Cordyline australis ).

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Wild Sri Lanka

10,000 Birds

As Bill Oddie noticed in his foreword to ‘Wild Sri Lanka’ (2nd edition) by Gehan De Silva Wijeyeratne, this island paradise is probably the only country in the world where almost all books on wildlife were authored by a single person. Birds, butterflies, flowers, reptiles – you name it, Gehan has covered it.

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