Let the beauty abide

Trekdi is an organisation on a mission to save the butterflies of the city through treks and camps.

After being in the greys of a concrete jungle,a colorful dash of yellow,pink or orange flickering near your window or wandering around your plants may seem like much-needed relief. The butterfly is one of the prettiest residents of the fauna kingdom. Their colours and patterns mesmerise the mind and leave one spellbound. But like many animals and plants,the butterflies are reducing in numbers in both urban areas and jungle areas,due to poaching,habitat loss and lack of flora compatibility. Trekdi is an organisation that organises treks and camps to promote butterfly conservation. Butterflies are insects and people rate them very low,hence the status of existence of many a butterfly species is not known, laments Pinakin Karve,director of Trekdi.

To help with butterfly restoration and conservation,a Butterfly Camp is being organised in Pune by Trekdi at the CDSA campus near Chandni Chowk on May 7 and 8. The camp will cover theory courses to improve the know-how of people regarding butterflies and take them for a short trek near the Sinhagad valley to show them different kinds of butterflies that exist in their natural habitats. The concept of butterfly parks would be explained and a short brief on butterfly taxonomy & classification,life cycle,habits & habitats of butterflies,butterfly photography,individual & group efforts for butterfly conservation would be provided.

Pinakin has been a part of ‘Butterfly India’ nature trails and activities and has also tried his hand at butterfly photography. According to him,many of the butterflies are captured,collected and exported to be sold in grey markets across the world. Peacock Butterfly sells for around Rs 400 to Rs 500 each in the market and hence the trade is a tempting one as one trip to the jungle yields more than 10 to 20 butterflies at a time. Blue Oak Leaf,Blue Mormon,Striped Tiger and Great Eggfly are some of the other common and beautiful species of the Pune region.

Dwindling urban diversity of butterflies is a matter that asks to be looked into seriously. Steps need to be taken to make people aware about how their actions lead to habitat destruction of butterflies. The rapid change of land patterns has led to a quick decline in the numbers of butterflies across urban lands. An area that used to be a river bed is now a road,a dense park is now a housing society; all these changes are taking their toll on the butterfly population by shifting them to alien habitats, says Karve.

The pattern of distribution of butterflies depends on the availability of their food plants. The use of foreign plants in our gardens and homes is hence quite taxing for the butterfly as it deprives them of foliage,nectar and pollen as food. Use of Taiwan grass instead of the local grass of the region,Chinese bamboo,different kinds of palms,nursery-developed orchids,and so on,provide a harsh environment to the butterfly even in a garden. Use of nursery grown plants and especially flowers,deprives the butterflies of nectar and hence the use of indigenous flowering trees and plants should be promoted for restoration of the butterflies, explains Karve.

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