WHATEVER presents you plan on giving out this Christmas, you would be pushed to outdo the amazing gift left by a Barry man who died earlier this year.

Reilly Bird donated a 68 acre piece of land he owned in Canada to Ontario Nature who have created the Reilly Bird Nature Reserve in his memory.

Reilly was born in Barry on August 16, 1937 and as a young man served an apprenticeship at Barry Graving Dock. He went on to become an electrical engineer with P&O Ferries before joining the UK's main centre for atomic energy research AERE in Oxfordshire.

He emigrated to Canada in 1967 to join the Atomic Energy of Canada Laboratories in the rural area of Chalk River, Ontario, Canada.

Falling in love with the vast wilderness around him, Reilly became interested in exploring his surroundings. He would spend much of his spare time hiking and canoeing through the forests and rivers.

Reilly eventually bought his own piece of land on the upper Ottowa River as a way of maintaining his own pocket of wilderness for his adventures. In 1992 he made plans for the lot to be looked after by Ontario Nature when he died.

Twenty two year later, in May of this year Reilly died aged 76 in Pembroke, Ontario and Ontario Nature took over the land, creating the Reilly Bird Nature Reserve in memory of the man who so dearly loved the place.

The Nature Reserve is described as a "stunning parcel of mixed hardwood forest" that is "an excellent habitat for basking turtles and spawning fish".

A description by Ontario Nature reads: "BeeHuey Creek, a cold water stream that supports brook trout, runs through the reserve.

"Moss covered cedars and yellow birch hug the sandy shoreline of Huey Creek and are frequented by belted kingfishers and ruffed grouse.

"Great blue herons can be spotted fishing in Meilleurs Bay. Two species of orchids, the dwarf rattlesnake-plantain and broad-lipped twayblade, grow in the shade of the cedar groves."

They went on to thank Reilly for his donation.

"Ontario Nature has benefited greatly from his vast knowledge about the region’s natural heritage," they said. "Ontario Nature is grateful to Mr Bird for his generous donation and are proud to protect a piece of the Algonquin to Adirondack corridor."