Gehan de Silva Wijeyeratne is amongst a handful of field naturalists in the world who have written and photographed field guides published by international publishers including Bloomsbury, Bradt, John Beaufoy and New Holand, spanning terrestrial mammals, marine mammals, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, wild flowers and trees. He is a passionate naturalist who has written and photographed over 25 books and over 400 articles.

He has broken internationally significant wildlife stories including that Sri Lanka is the Best for seeing Blue Whales in the world and has the largest recurring Gathering of wild Elephants in the world. He also explained why Kalpitiya is a hot spot for whale watching and pelagic seabirds. He publicised the gatherings of Sperm Whales and branded Sri Lanka for Big Game. He was the first to see that Sri Lanka could be marketed as a destination for Leopard Safaris. He has popularized birds, mammals, butterflies, dragonflies and trees and wild flowers commencing with a series of pictorial guides which dates back to 2001.

He is widely credited as the person who branded Sri Lanka as a top wildlife destination. He combined science, fieldwork, writing, photography, publishing and business skills with a flair for taking a story to local and international print and film media. In the words of British author and television wildlife presenter Bill Oddie, no single individual has done so much to raise the profile of a country for its wildlife. Gehan’s efforts have made him a wildlife celebrity in Sri Lanka. After working for ten years in Sri Lanka he returned to London where he continues to write on world-wide natural history and in particular to promote Sri Lanka as one of the best all-round wildlife destinations in the world.

For over eight years he has been Chairperson of the London Bird Club (LBC), one of the sections of the London Natural History Society (LNHS). He also served on the LNHS Council for five years. He is also a Trustee of the British Ornithologists’ Club. He takes part on many of the field events organized by the LNHS/LBC and other central London based groups and writes and photographs on British wildlife as well as from around the world.

Because he is an all-round natural history author and photographer, he is often invited by international publishers to review books for online retail websites. He has written full length review of close to a hundred books. He is also invited as a speaker/panelist at various fora including literary festivals.