Some Major Events in 2016
Butterfly Walk in Siruvani Hills
TNBS organised a Butterfly walk in order to create awareness of butterflies among
public and fellow naturalists at Siruvani Hills and at the adjacent Vellingiri Hills on
18th of September 2016 in association with the District Forest Department. The
Butterfly walk was in continuation of what we have conducted last year (Aug 2015)
in Kallar RF. A total of 36 members participated in this one-day exercise. Walks
were conducted on forest areas, open spaces and fringes of the forests. Our heart-
felt thanks are due to the DFO Mr. Periya Samy, IFS, and Tamil Nadu Forest Depart-
ment team at Kovai Kutralam.
Areas covered include the stretch from TN-KL border to Thanneer Pallam to bam-
boo Forests to check dam for 3 teams. Two other teams went along the river
streams and tribal hamlets on the much lower elevation. Two teams took the pil-
grimage route of the Vellingiri Hills until 2 nd Mountain.
The following table provides family wise break up of no of species sighted:
While the no of species sighted,
138, is a good number, the
population
density
of
the
butterflies was very low. Except for
the Emigrants and probably
Common Bluebottles, we have not
seen any butterflies dominating
the proceedings. The first time
exploration of Vellingiri Hills, even
though in a small level, yielded 61
species. With the migration season
expected to begin in a week, it
looked like a dull before the storm.
36 people turned up for the walk and they were grouped into 7 teams. While five teams assigned to various places in
Siruvani Hills, two teams (mainly the younger legs and hard-cores) were given the responsibility of exploring the tough
Vellingiri Hills (which is hitherto not explored much from Butterfly angle).
Teams covered different habitat areas of the Hills, the plains, the secondary forests in the fringes, the river streams and the
dense upper elevations. It is usually the October and November; the season of butterflies begins here after the spike in
June. All teams participated enthusiastically and brought good results by end of the day. The day was bright and sunny to
begin with ended with a slight drizzle.
A total of 138 species is sighted combining both the hills. 61 species were sighted in the Vellingiri Hills (only a small area of
that is explored and much to explore further and later). Siruvani Hills alone returned a figure of 132 species. This number is
a great number and confirms the rich bio-diversity of Siruvani Hills.
Although many species across families were sighted, the butterfly density was found to be low with only the Emigrants and
the Common Bluebottles were seen more frequently. Butterflies to note were Large Four-lineblue (a new addition to TN
checklist), Paris Peacock, Malabar Rose, Spotless Grass Yellow, Plain Puffin, Treebrowns (Common and Tamil), Sergeants
(Common, Colour and Blackvein), White-tipped Lineblue, Silver-streaked Acacia Blue, Coon and Demons (Grass, Restricted
and Common Banded).
9 species were added to the Siruvani Hills checklist which jumped to 198 from 189 and the Coimbatore District numbers to
237.
People have come in from all over Tamil Nadu, especially from Chennai, Rajapalayam, Madurai, Sivagangai, Erode,
Mettupalayam, Thiruppur and Coimbatore. Bangalore too was represented.
TNBS members who organised the walk include Mr. Mohan Prasath (the lead organiser), Mr. Nishanth CV, Mr.
Theivaprakasham Hari, Mr. Vishwa Nathan, Mr. Bala Krishnan, Mr. Gopal Krishnan. Mr. Pradeep Kumar and Mr.
Pavendhan. A
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