Sunday, 15 July 2018

Delhi Butterfly Month 2018


Delhi Butterfly Month-2018


Once again September is Butterfly Month at Conservation Education Centre – Delhi. The month started with several educational programs and field trips scheduled throughout the month. The program is supported and encouraged by Department of Forests and Wildlife, Govt. of NCT Delhi. 

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To know more about Delhi Butterfly Month, read the previous posts and hangout with us on our social media platforms. 

Website: http://www.cecdelhi.org/

Blog: https://cecdelhi.blogspot.in/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CECABWLS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cecabwls/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cecbnhsdelhi/?hl=en

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmwZiCB8R-JXE_aeE1NSfYw

Pinterest: https://in.pinterest.com/cecbnhsdelhi/

To know more, contact us by email at cecbnhsdelhi@bnhs.org or by phone at +91 8800748967/8800741864.



Saturday, 2 September 2017

BNHS Hosts Festival of Butterflies

Delhi Butterfly Month – 2017 is first ever initiative to conserve butterflies in the capital region

September is Butterfly Month at Conservation Education Centre – Delhi. The month started with several educational programs and field trips scheduled throughout the month. The program is supported and encouraged by Department of Forests and Wildlife, Govt. of NCT Delhi. 


Ask anyone who spends a lot of time outdoors, they’ll tell you that monsoon season especially August and September is their least favorite month of the year. Monsoon has a bad reputation for being hot and humid, with only occasional thunderstorm to provide some temporary relief. Most of the national parks remain close, bird watching is not easy and nature lovers usually take break due to continuous rains. 


In spite of all the national park being closed, naturalists still appreciate the fact that monsoon is a critical month in nature, with much to observe and appreciate. Humidity and blooming wildflowers attract many species of butterflies.


Delhi Butterfly Month kick started with grand inaugural function. The day began with lamp lighting ceremony and welcome speech. Later, attendees and kids watched an informative documentary and indulged in discussion.


After inauguration people went for one hour long Butterfly Walk and learned about the life cycle of butterflies, conservational issues and importance of their presence in an eco – system. They also learned how to attract butterflies in their home.


Kids learned ‘Butterfly Origami’ with Deepika and Lalita, origami experts. They used eco friendly material like sticks and leaves along and waste paper to make close and open wing butterflies. Creativity exceeded when kids started making caterpillar and pupa too.



We are encouraging everyone to participate in the month long programs. People should attend multiple events during Delhi Butterfly Month and feast their eyes on the fluttering beauties. 


Thank you for reading!

CEC Team

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To know more about Delhi Butterfly Month, read the previous posts and hangout with us on our social media platforms. 

Website: http://www.cecdelhi.org/

Blog: https://cecdelhi.blogspot.in/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CECABWLS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cecabwls/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cecbnhsdelhi/?hl=en

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmwZiCB8R-JXE_aeE1NSfYw

Pinterest: https://in.pinterest.com/cecbnhsdelhi/

To know more, contact us by email at cecbnhsdelhi@bnhs.org or by phone at +91 8800748967/8800741864.

Thursday, 24 August 2017

The Delhi Butterfly Month

A month long program envisioned as an annual affair with the explicit purpose of highlighting the status of butterflies in our capital. Delhi has over 80-recorded species of butterflies but the documentation is old, we want to start a process of documenting these butterflies every year.


The month will be celebrated with various events aimed at a wide-ranging audience. The programs are designed to increase participation and help maximum people to get attached to the winged beauties.


The inaugural function will be held on 1st September at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary (ABWLS) and we will have events leading up to the 17th, when we hold the Big Butterfly Count. In this count we will try and cover all green zones of Delhi like, ABWLS, Aravalli Bio Diversity Park, Yamuna Bio Diversity Park, JNU, Buddha Jayanti Park, Tilpath Valley, Tuglakabad Biodiversity Park, Lodi Garden.


There will also be campus counts at various big colleges in Delhi to garner support for the eventual count on 17th. At this point we will only be counting the number of species encountered (estimates for high encounter rate will be recorded) and maybe actual counts can be done from next year on.

Click To Know More About September 17 - Big Butterfly Count

The campus counts will be held at Amity University, IIT Delhi, JNU, GGSIPU, Delhi University, Manva Rachna University etc. We are aiming to reach upwards of 3000 people through our various programs stretched over a month.

The celebration will end on 23rd, when we hold a conference of butterfly experts, scientists, and researchers working around Delhi NCR. We will also give out prizes for the various competitions we will hold like butterfly photography, origami, painting, blog writing.


This will be a chance for experts and layman to interact share knowledge and experience with each other. We will also have discussions on various conservation issues and even sign a petition to name a state butterfly for Delhi. This forum is where will come a consensus and use the state symbol as a mascot for conservation in Delhi.

These counts keep happening in various cities in India like Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkatta, while the biggest one happens in UK, all across the country.

The blog is written by:

Sohail Madan

Centre Head
Conservation Education Centre

You may reach him: cecbnhsdelhi@gmail.com 

To know more about events. Please check - A Month For Butterflies

Saturday, 19 August 2017

The Beauty of Butterflies: Photography Contest

“The risk is none and the opportunities are endless. There's not a single reason not to try.”



Calling all #Butterfly enthusiasts! 

Photographers of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels are invited to enter the photography competition organizing by Conservation Education Centre - Delhi, BNHS.

Share your original butterfly photos from Delhi/NCR only and be featured across our digital platforms or onsite! The judges are looking to award the some of the best images.

Winner of ‘Best Click’ will win exciting prize.

In addition to the main prizes, winners and shortlisted photographers will also be included in our Newsletter.


Please note:

To submit your entry successfully, make sure to register for 'Delhi Butterfly Month' event. Please click here to know more or check our last post!

You may enter only five clicks for this competition.

Make sure to give your email id and contact information.

Let us know your Facebook/Twitter/Instagram Handles so we can tag you and give you some great exposure amongst your colleagues and peers!

The closing date for entry is September 16, 2017.

Results will be announced on September 22, 2017.

Read below for term and conditions



To know more, contact us by email at cecbnhsdelhi@bnhs.org or by phone at +91 8800748967/8800741864.

You may also want to check other platforms where we share news, events and other cool announcements.

Website: http://www.cecdelhi.org/
Blog: https://cecdelhi.blogspot.in/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CECABWLS
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cecabwls/?ref=bookmarks
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cecbnhsdelhi/?hl=en
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmwZiCB8R-JXE_aeE1NSfYw
Pinterest: https://in.pinterest.com/cecbnhsdelhi/

Thank you again for reading

Team
CEC, Delhi

Saturday, 12 August 2017

A Month For Butterflies

The spectacular variety of colours and patterns that is butterfly for us. And where to find them, of course in open fields, bushes, forest edges. But do we have such areas left? Especially in metropolitan cities like Delhi.


We suggest, if every garden/park in the Delhi left areas of lawn to grow and planted just a few wildflowers and selected host plants (without pesticides of course) then our butterflies, bees and other wildlife would thrive. 


And this is a well known fact that one species help to balance others. It is a web of life! Butterflies means pollination and butterflies also means more birds!


To establish the importance of butterflies and to make people aware about their diversity, habitat, population and other facts, CEC - Delhi is to observe September as Delhi Butterfly Month.


With more than 500 BNHS supporters, members, expert of butterflies, institutional patrons and butterfly enthusiasts, we are going to celebrate the month of ‘Blooms and Butterflies’. We will make sure that event will take over the entire month of September and Delhi people will cherish it for long-long time.

Please open the image in other tab to read

The event, ‘Delhi Butterfly Month’ will start on September 1 with the grand inauguration at Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. We will hit the start with Butterfly Origami Workshop, organize blog writing and slogan writing contest and announce our 20 days butterfly photography contest.


September 2 will be the walk day along with an eco game. The name of the walk is interesting too, it’s ‘Walk like Caterpillar’. People will act like the second phase of the butterflies’ life and learn how the gorgeous winged beauty look like during her developing stage.


September 3, the Sunday, is again dedicated for colourful creatures in Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. We are organizing ‘Breakfast with Butterflies’. People will spend entire morning in butterfly garden of Asola. The garden is newly build and is a home of over 60 butterflies.


From September 4 to 16, CEC – Delhi is planning to do Butterfly Campus Counts and outreach program in various educational institutes in Delhi and NCR. The more the merrier. We are calling out people to organize a count in their campus.


September 17 is the Big Butterfly Count in selected few green corners of Delhi. Expert teams, led by team captains, will do the serious survey of the green zones and collect the data on butterflies, their habitat and conservational issues.


September 23 is the day of valedictory program. Prize distribution and huge gathering of people will be one of the most important parts of the event. However, the last day is dedicated for discussions. Data analysis, conservational practices, declaration of state butterfly will be the core part of the valedictory function.

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To know more about the butterfly meet and how to participate, please contact us at

Email us: cecbnhsdelhi@bnhs.org
Call us: 8800748967 / 8800741864

Tuesday, 1 August 2017

Disentangling Human-Wildlife Conflict

An overdrive for development has been putting man and wildlife on a course of perilous confrontation and conflict between the two. Some imaginative solutions are called for to avert this, finds Dr. Mugdha Singh

Human-wildlife conflicts are negative interactions between wild animals and people that leave damaging impact on people and animals. They are more realist than their coexistence. It occurs when growing human populations overlap with established wildlife territory, creating reduction of resources. The conflict takes many forms ranging from loss of life or injury to humans and animals to loss and degradation of habitat.

Image Courtesy: http://wildliferesearch.org/

Conflicts are regular in metropolitan cities because of scarcity of forest and green patches. These conflicts are serious obstacles to wildlife conservation efforts and becoming more prevalent as human populations increase and diversify, development expands rapidly, resources shrink, global climate changes, and other human, societal and environmental factors put people into greater potential and possibility for conflict with wildlife.

Conflict Creation

Sightings of leopard, nilgai or blue bull, python are quite common in many cities of India, including metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata etc. Wild animals straying to nearby cities shows that their habitat are being encroached upon and destroyed up to that level that they do not have any option but to sneak into the cities in search of food and shelter.

Most of the conflicts in India are reported from the periphery to the protected areas (PAs). Rapid increase in human population in these periphery areas leads to frequent disturbance in the habitat of wild animals. Many such areas are hotspots of tourism which pushed animals further inside these PAs. Deforestation and other human activities in PA have increased conflicts situations.

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Image Courtesy: www.pinterest.com 
Pin by Greg Roughan

Major reasons of conflicts are, walling of habitats and the segregation of other wild patches that restricted the movement of animals from one area to another. These restrictions make wildlife islands around cities increasingly susceptible to inter and intra species competition.

Why blame wildlife

It is difficult to blame wildlife for its conflict with humans, because the animals are simply, doing what animals do. However, humans view wildlife as pests, and blame them for damaging their livelihoods, or as a danger to their community. The challenge for conservationists is to change this attitude by offering them, practical, workable and effective solutions.

Often the plight of urban wildlife is dismissed because city dwellers consider them to as nuisance. There is a need to educate the public towards increased tolerance of the wildlife around and help them to coexist peacefully.

Image Courtesy: http://www.fao.org/

Finding solutions

An important aspect of reducing conflict is about finding solutions that lead to mutually beneficial co-existence of Humans and animals.

There is no ‘silver bullet’, no ‘one’ technique or strategy that can be used everywhere. We need specific technique for different conflicts. These solutions should be species and area specific, creative and simple, which should benefit both the animals and local human communities, and actively involves these communities.

Good management policies are being practiced in many of the PA in India and many success stories have emerged in past decade.

1)     Some of the main practices are shifting human population from locality lying on periphery or near PA to alternate locality.
2)   Mass awareness campaigns and assigning dedicated rescue teams especially to those areas where these conflicts frequently take place.
3)     Shifting thrust to educating the value of biodiversity through non-formal education might reduce the confrontation among humans and animals.

Steps to Save Wildlife

United efforts by international organizations, Government, NGOs, communities, consumers and individuals are must to find the possible solutions.
Better land-use planning to ensure that both humans and animals get the space that they may need.
Increasing forest cover is now reduced to 17 percent according to the recent research though as per the norm forest cover should be 33 percent of the total land area of the country.
Compensation or insurance for animal-induced damage is another widely accepted solution through government.
Field based solutions can limit the damage done both to humans and human property, and to wildlife, by preventing wildlife from entering fields or villages.

Incorporating information regarding human-wildlife conflicts into educational curriculum
Other than these solutions:
-         Raising awareness
-         Access prevention
-         Translocation of the animal

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Author is the Education Officer at Conservation Education Centre. She had her PhD in ornithology and work as guest writer for various magazines, newspapers and online portal.
You may reach her at m.singh@bnhs.org 


Delhi Butterfly Month 2018

Delhi Butterfly Month-2018 Once again September is Butterfly Month at Conservation Education Centre – Delhi. The month started with ...