It’s a change of scene at the sprawling Singanallur Lake. What welcomes you now is an expanse of glistening water bathed in the morning sunshine, and there are no water hyacinths. The green weed that carpeted the over 100-acre lake has now been removed by the Coimbatore Corporation to ready the water body for boating and water sports.
The Singanallur Lake is one of the biggest and significant tanks in the city fed by the Noyyal. It supports a thriving bio-diversity of resident birds, migratory birds, butterflies and a rich flora. Some of the rare birds such as the Red- necked Phalarope and the Pallas Gull have been spotted here. The lake is home to painted storks, pelicans, garganey ducks, stilts, cormorants, sandpipers, purple moorhen, Asian palm swifts, barn swallows…
As the lake is thrown open for commercial tourism from January 26, bird watchers in the city express a word of caution.
Water sports should be restricted to certain areas to ensure that the bird life is not disturbed, says R. Mohammed Saleem of Environment Conservation Group. “There has to be awareness on waste management too. Some of the nearly threatened birds such as painted storks and Ibis still visit the Lake. It is important to protect the ecosystem to maintain a healthy population of these birds.”
P.S. Selvaraj, president of Coimbatore Nature Society (CNS) says the scientific community has to be roped in for any cleaning exercise of tanks. “Recreation and entertainment activities shouldn’t disturb the fragile ecosystem. We have spotted a number of butterflies such as common mormon, joker, glossy tiger and plain tiger there,” he says. Birder A. Pavendhan says every butterfly has an ecosystem, a unique host plant and care has to be taken to retain such flora.
The red-necked phalarope one of the rare birds that travels all the way from Siberia was first sighted in Coimbatore at the Singanallur Lake, says N. Saravanan Natrayan of CNS.There has been sighting of gulls too, which is unusual. “All we need is a little bit of thought and effort to control the mindless pollution that has eaten up the lake,” he says.
