From fire to moth

Couldn't resist the morbid pun in the subject line. :-) On a more serious note - several of you have expressed concern about the birds affected by y/day's fire. Well, we didn't have the heart to inspect the burnt areas in the lake bed today more so because the adult birds would have fled leaving behind the chicks and eggs. 

We have to let nature take its course and do the repair work. A few showers will help. We got the gardeners to mend the fence, water the burned down trees and shrubs in the hope that the roots would be revived and perhaps new leaves would sprout. To prevent a repeat incident, the gardeners have begun controlled burning as advised by the fire men. They are collecting the dry weeds away from the trees and burning them in small piles. Till we raise money for a composting unit, we'll unfortunately have to follow this practice to prevent arson.

Prime Jyothi from Brigade Gardenia, an avid butterfly enthusiast and photographer had come to the lake today morning to see the damage caused by the fire. He came again in the evening and spotted some Oleander Hawk Moth caterpillars. Not surprisingly, they were found on the Nerium Oleander in the garden near the Gazebo. We had planted the Oleander and the other plants there specifically to attract butterflies and moths. 

Pics: Prime Jyothi

The Oleander Hawk Moth is apparently a large sized moth found in Africa and Asia and is said to be a migratory species. For more info see here.

Usha