More than 88 species of butterflies were seen and recorded by the Wynter-Blyth Association, which undertook a survey of butterfly species in seven different locations in the Nilgiris and the foothills on Sunday.
However, the conservationists who took part in the survey said that they were concerned by the lack of butterflies seen this year, which they said could be attributed to the lack of rainfall, combined with the fact that there has been little or no migration of butterfly species between the Eastern and Western Ghats.
The survey was undertaken as part of the ‘National Butterfly Trail Day’ — an initiative of the National Butterfly Club in Mumbai — the first time such an initiative had been taken up nationwide.
Teams of more than 100 volunteers followed trails in Udhagamandalam, Gudalur, Kotagiri, Coonoor and Kallar to spot as many butterflies as possible.
The trails covered a variety of elevations and forest types — Kallar with dry deciduous and riverine tracts, the sholas of the southern slopes of Coonoor, grasslands and sholas of Ooty, deciduous forests of the Sigur slopes, and the dry deciduous and riverine tracts of Devala and Pandiyar in Gudalur.
Vinod Sriramalu, Trustee for the Wynter-Blyth Association, which comprises butterfly enthusiasts working towards conservation of butterfly species, said that the presence of butterflies indicates the plant diversity of a particular place.
“Butterflies are key indicators of the health of the local ecosystem, and a lot can be gauged about the state of the local environment from their presence, or indeed their absence,” said Mr. Sriramalu.
Though the volunteers and conservationists spotted over 88 species of butterfly and more than 600 individual butterflies through the course of the day, Mr. Sriramalu said that the actual numbers were quite disappointing.
“There are more than 220 species of butterflies in the Nilgiris alone, and the number of species we spotted was very low,” he said.
Mr. Sriramalu said that the drop in numbers could be due to rainfall deficit.
