CHENNAI : Quietly and slowly, a group of people approached a large bush at one of the trails in Adyar Poonga. A butterfly peeped in and out of the foliage, and everyone’s eyes were on it. A child shouted, ‘Look ma, a butterfly!’, and the insect hurriedly flew away, and the group let out a sigh.Dr R Banumathy opened her book, Handbook on Butterflies in Tamil Nadu, and turned to the corresponding page. “That was a Grass Blue. They drink from the flowers that grow on the ground. These flowers are crucial for their existence. Based on their markings, you can differentiate between the many varieties of Blues — Lesser, Tiny Pale,” she explained the crowd, who were looking at the picture of the brownish-green butterfly.
The Butterfly Walk was held as a part of Madras Day celebrations by the Madras Naturalists Society, which was established in 1978. This was the fifth year of the walk. “This is the first in the city. People should be exposed to the species and the variety of butterflies that live here,” said Vigay Kumar, secretary of the Madras Naturalists Society. Headed by Banumathy, the walk was held on Saturday afternoon.Butterflies enjoy warm, sunny weather and dislike cloudy or rainy weather. This makes Chennai an ideal place for them to thrive. The city has over 90 species distributed among the various green areas like Guindy National Park, IIT grounds and Adyar Poonga.
Through the course of the walk, the group saw butterflies like the red-and-black Crimson Rose, the bright yellow Lime Blue, and the brown-and-yellow Common Jay.The group was lucky to see the huge Blue Mormon. The large blue butterfly quickly fluttered through the crowd. “This is the first time that I saw a Blue Mormon in Poonga. It’s an uncommon butterfly here. It’s essentially a Western Ghat species, so you’ll see them a lot in Coimbatore. It’s a sign of an unpolluted area as they don’t live in polluted places,” said Dr Banumathy.
The group also witnessed a male Common Crow making figure-eight patterns beside a large bush. Dr Banumathy explained that the male butterfly was spraying pheromones through a protrusion from the lower abdomen called a hair pencil to attract female Common Crows.The large brown butterfly, with white specks on its wings continued to spray pheromones as Dr Banumathy went on to explain that despite August being the mating season, the poor rainfall in Tamil Nadu has led to the poor growth of plants, which is detrimental to the mating habits of the insects, as they require fresh, green leaves during this season.