Why you should attend BNHS's Butterfly Festival this weekend if you love nature

Maharashtra’s state butterfly, Blue mormon. Pics courtesy/BNHS

The last line of Robert Frost's poem Design goes, ‘If design govern in a thing so small'. It questions what force drives the chance encounter of a moth and a spider to an unfortunate ending for one, and a meal for the other, which might leave you curious about the lives of creepy crawlies. Spend a weekend chasing this curiosity with the Bombay Natural History Society's (BNHS) third edition of the Butterfly Festival. Priyanka Jundare, education officer and naturalist, BNHS, tells us that the two-day festival will introduce all things butterfly to participants of all ages and promote awareness about the insect and its importance in our ecosystem.

Great orange tip

Trails and more

Jundare shares, "The festival is a great place to understand more about butterflies through different activities. Butterflies breed during the monsoon and so October is a great time to study their life cycle, look for caterpillars and other related activities." Both days of the festival will include two batches that will be guided by experts. Each batch will start with learning about the butterfly life cycle before heading out for a guided walk in the Conservation Education Centre-Mumbai's (CEC) garden where participants can look for caterpillars, learn about butterfly behaviour, how to identify them and what distinguishes them from moths.

Chocolate pansy

Experts will detail the importance of the insect in our environment and the impact of their decline on the food chain and the consequences on other animals and the overall ecosystem. You can also expect to spot different species of these colourful winged insects including Blue oak leaf, Common mormon, Great orange tip, Common crow butterfly, Chocolate pansy, and Maharashtra's state butterfly - Blue mormon, among others.

Priyanka Jundare

Fluttering facts

Experts will drop fascinating facts about the butterflies along these trails. Giving us a preview, Jundare tells us about butterfly behaviour, for instance, mimicry. She informs us that there are poisonous and non-poisonous butterflies, and since predators stay away from poisonous butterflies, the non-poisonous ones mimic the movement of the former to trick their predators. "There are other ways butterflies escape their predators. The Blue oak leaf tricks predators through its appearance; it looks like a dried leaf by sitting still. And when it takes flight, it flashes the blue on its wings to confuse predators for a few seconds during which it escapes and flies away," she explains. Jundare shares a cool fact: some butterflies don't even visit flowers for nectar but feed on fruits and dead animals to avoid competition from nectar-feeding butterflies.

Tawny Rajah butterfly and Blue oak leaf

Activities to DIY for

The other activities in the festival include pebble painting, a butterfly-shaped acrylic tattoo stamps stall, screening of documentaries including an edit on the Monarch butterfly migration, and a poster competition where participants can highlight everything they have learned during the garden trail. Prizes up for grabs include books on butterflies.

Participants learn about the butterfly life cycle at a previous edition

There will also be an art exhibition by wildlife and botanical artist Paresh Churi who will display his three-dimensional butterfly paper works. Along with a garden full of the fluttering creatures, the organisers have devised another takeaway - they will suggest ways to create a butterfly garden at home where you can attract the winged insects with small host plants such as lime and curry leaf plants and nectar plants such as lantana. "Participants can also explore the CEC area when their session ends," Jundare concludes.

ON October 15 and 16; 7.30 am to 9 am and 10 am to 11.30 am
AT BNHS Conservation Education Centre, near Film City, Goregaon East.
LOG ON TO bnhs.org or @bombaynaturalhistorysociety
CALL 9594953425
EMAIL cec-mumbai@bnhs.org to register
COST Rs 300 (registration fee)