Hope and Cheer at the lake in the times of COVID

The dark days of COVID 19 continue for us, humans, but the lockdown, it appears, has opened the doors of the animal kingdom. Our lake, unfortunately, continues to be plagued by sewage with the BWSSB replacing the underground drain at a snail's pace. We recognize and accept that they are hampered by the curfew, non-availability of workers and the occasional rain. Yet, we can't but hope fervently that they will pick up speed in the next few days and complete the drain replacement. Our lake has suffered enough, please, with pollutants and encroachers! 

In this bleak phase, what lifts our spirits is the surprising return of birds to our Puttenahalli Lake. 

Following the first shower a few weeks ago, we spotted from a distance, Egrets, Purple Swamphens, Eurasian Coots and Little Grebes. Our gardeners, who had been coming on alternate days to water the plants reported the presence of a large number of butterflies. Their photographs, grainy and shaky confirmed it but how do we see these for ourselves? Fortunately, last week we received an order from the BBMP to open the lake with restricted timings. That was enough for our photographers to make a beeline to the lake. 

Purple-rumped Sunbird (Pic: Gopinath Subbarao)

Plain Tiger (Pic: Aditi Mahesh)

Other than several Coots, Grebes, Waterhens and Purple Swamphens, Madhurima reported three pairs of Common Moorhens (they were foraging together and chasing away intruders) and a pair of Bronze-winged Jacanas. She saw a Terrapin and a Pheasant-tailed Jacana and, of course, swarms of butterflies. 

Bronze-winged Jacanas (Pic: Madhurima Das)

Common Moorhens (Pic: Madhurima Das)

Terrapin basking in the sun (Pic: Madhurima)

Ah the butterflies ... ! We had first feasted our eyes on Nupur's video and shared it with a few friends. Like a growing ripple, it reached more people. 

On Sunday, The Hindu carried an article on the butterflies swarming not just in our lake but in green spaces in the city. Since then, their number at the lake has increased considerably. Our gardener Ramu's video shows a veritable cloud of Dark Blue Tigers!

Apparently, this is the pre-monsoon migration of butterflies to escape the incessant rain in the southern part of the western ghats (Sahyadri). To know more, please see: http://biodiversitylab.ncbs.res.in/butterfly-migrations

BBMP ordered the lake to be locked from today as a precautionary measure. If you are not able to see the stragglers leave, you can do so when they return between mid-Oct and early Dec. 

We shall prevail over these tough times and take delight in these beauties of nature. Go Green and keep the planet safe for all its denizens.  Be safe, stay indoors. 

PNLIT Calendar 2018 - Open for Pre-orders

The PNLIT Calendar is back! Capturing a few of the best of our lake, we'd brought out calendars for 2014 showcasing birds and for 2016 on the exciting Life at the lake. The theme for 2018 is butterflies and dragonflies.

Anyone who goes even occasionally to the lake cannot help but notice these fragile little beauties flying everywhere. Appropriately titled "Flutterflies at Puttenahalli Lake," the exquisite photographs have been shot by our shutterbugs. The calendar has been designed by Arpit Agarwal, a talented designer from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. 

Calendar details

Desk top Calendar

Size - 5.7" x 8.5"

No. of sheets - 8 (6 + 2)

Paper - 300 gsm art paper

Spiral bound

This is an advance intimation to help us decide on the number of copies we print. The cost per piece is likely to be between Rs. 210 and Rs. 230. 

The calendar will be available in December. Please hurry and place your order with: Ms. Nupur Jain <nupur21@gmail.com> (nupur21 at gmail dot com); Whatsapp number +91 9886629769

Bulk orders from companies are most welcome. The logo and the name of your company will be printed on this eye catching calendar. Please pitch it to your PR department. Let your wings and ours flutter through our calendar!

60 young visitors to the lake

Children from three branches of a play school visited the lake today. They had been learning about birds and flowers from books and had come to see them in real.

The first excitement was an insect in the gazebo and then the walk began. 

As if flowers in our garden, butterflies flitting everywhere and birds in the sky and water were not enough, the sight of the chicks of the Common Coot made the three year olds open their eyes wider. A couple of slugs and a wriggling earthworm added to their excitement. 

Despite their very young age, the children were so well behaved. All kudos to the teachers who kept them engaged by pointing out each little natural treasure that PNLIT guide Mr.Gopinath showed them.



(Pics: Nupur Jain)

We hope today's visit to Puttenahalli Lake will stay in their minds for a long, long time.

Usha

Pictures taken by Mr Gopinath can be seen here.