Delhi’s affair with butterflies is not new. The capital city of India has Butterfly Parks to let the beautiful creatures live in the natural habitat. Recently, as part of the third annual butterfly count in the city, conducted on last Sunday, the counting team found 66 new species, as reported by The Times of India. The species were spotted by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS). In fact, some of these species are among the rarest species of this year.
Sohail Madan, CEC, Manager of Bombay Natural History Society, said, “Brown awl, Dingy Swift and common red flash were among the rare species spotted this year, while the common ones included plain tiger, common grass yellow, mottled emigrant and common emigrant.”
Ishwar Singh, principal chief conservator of forests, said, “The butterfly month (September) shows the results of the habitat improvement in Delhi, as these insects are the indicators of a good ecosystem.” He added that during the counting drive, butterflies were spotted at 45 locations in Delhi on September 22.”
As reported by TOI, around 700 people participated in the Big Butterfly Count, which was also held in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Manager of BNHS, Madan added, “It was a half-day event that involved transects walks for observing and listing the species. The habitats surveyed included wildlife sanctuaries, biodiversity parks, city forests, citizen gardens, nature resorts and institutions.”
He also explained that while the count of total number of species had gone down compared to last year, the counts in the city parks and citizen butterfly garden have gone up. It is to be noted that in the year 2018, the volunteers spotted 69 butterfly species. Previously, in 2017, the number was 75. There are around 115 native species of butterflies in the Delhi region.
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