A group of environmentalists and nature enthusiasts from the city had an exciting a trip to Nesaneri tank on Sunday morning — the highlight was sighting a herd of deer.
The study is being carried out by ‘Madurai Nature Forum,’ a collective of non-governmental organisations and individuals working for environment protection. “I have been studying the area for over a month to document birds and animals here but only managed to see pug marks of deer. For the first time today, we sighted a deer herd,” said D. Raveendran of Iragugal Naturalists’ Association and coordinator of the forum.
A group of 14 persons took part in the walk to document flora and fauna in and around the tank. The group sighted two male adult spotted deer and a fawn.
The villagers, however, had conflicting versions of the total number of deer there. While some said that there were about 150, a few others said there could be around 400 deer in a 20 km to 40 km radius of the tank.
“We sighted 56 species of birds. Many were migratory birds, including a rare species called Small Pratincole, mostly found in North India,” Mr Raveendran said.
The members felt that if efforts were taken to keep the tank filled with water throughout the year, it could support a larger number of birds and animals.
