Top 10 Butterflying Destinations of Maharashtra

         Having traveled across Maharashtra.. Top to Bottom and East to West.. and keeping view of Trekker/wildlife enthusiast and mainly butterflier; following are the few destinations which I think are the best for Butterflying. I am putting this list so that it would help newcomers / amateurs / experts from other states to reach out and study butterflies of Maharashtra.

1. Tamhini Ghat :

This place is situated about 60 Km west of Pune. Its a ghat road descending downwards from Mulshi basin to Kundalika River basin. This entire area is spectacular from butterflies point of view. This place is at its peak in the month of February and Early March but along with that late August and September are also good. It is the time when rain recedes and the jungle is illuminated by bright sunlight.

2. Phansad Wildlife Sanctuary:

Its a sanctuary about 30Km south of Alibag. It is situated on the way from Roha to Murud. This forest used to be the reserved hunting forest for Nawab of Janjira. This is a pristine semi-evergreen forest with small evergreen forest best having substantial old growth trees. This has resulted into fantastic diversity. Every month of the year will give you some surprise record.

3. Sanjay Gandhi National park:

Being blend of various ecosystem, Mumbai used to be fantastic destination for Naturalists. But with the high growth in population of Mumbai with heavy industrialisation and subsequent pollution, biodiversity of Mumbai has certainly taken a shock. But still the areas like Sanjay Gandhi National park which are completely surrounded the buildings, act like an oasis for the wildlife. Hence whenever you go to SGNP from various starting points, one can be sure of finding something nice. Peak season of this area is also February and Early March.

4. Vasota Fort:

Vasota fort is a jungle fort situated in the Koyna wildlife Sanctuary which is now part of sahyadri tiger reserve. This fort is completely isolated by dam water on one side and western ghat cliff from another side. Hence there is least disturbance in this jungle. When Dam water level goes down a bit, it opens sand bar along the coast and this sand bar is one of the favorite hanging out spots for butterflies. If you visit this place anytime after 1st november to 1st June, you can be sure of finding good variety of butterflies. The important thing is that since these butterflies will be busy in mud puddling, it becomes an easy job to photograph species like blue mormon, red helen which otherwise would hardly stop for you.

5. Dajipur Wildlife Sanctuary:

This Sanctuary is situated in the backwaters of Radhanagari Dam. The closet main city is kolhapur which is about 90 Km from the Dajipur Gate. There are several types of forest in this sanctuary and hence good diversity as well. In this sanctuary there is a small check dam on a stream and the place is known as "वाघाचे पाणी" means "Tiger's Water." This place is particularly good of butterfliers.

... more destinations will follow soon....

Butterflying at Nannaj

       Lot of people go to various dense forest zones for butterflying, I do the same. Areas nearing dense forest is likely to have more species and hence there are chances to photograph some new species than those which are present in your collection.


        One fine day I decided to visit completely different terrain. I decided to visit Nannaj Widlife Sanctuary which is dominated by grassland and scrub-land habitat. Most of the Deccan plateau and Central Indians planes are covered by these type of habitats. So I decided to check these areas for butterflies.


         Nannaj wildlife Sanctuary is a grassland plane reserved for the protection of bird called Great Indian Bustard alias GIB. Large grassland area is protected and hence one can find good insect population in this area. Sanctuary is dominated by Blackbucks and various types of larks, babblers and Francolins. Year 2007 was an average rainfall year and good grass cover was to be seen in the month of September.


         A brief report of what I recorded during Nannaj visit.


Date: 11 Sept'07
Location: 15 Km from Solapur
Landscape: Scrub + grassland
Weather: Hot but not humid, sunny with partial clouds, light breeze, grass green and soil slightly wet from previous day's shower.


Pieridae
1. Common Emmigrant   -   Large number (Hundreds)
2. Mottled Emmigrant    -   Large number (Hundreds)
3. Common grass yellows -  Large number (Hundreds)
4. Crimson tip          -    One sighting
5. Small orange tip  -   4-5 sightings
6. Common Albatross  - Abundant (more than 20 sightings)
7. Pioneer (Caper white) - Common (approx 10 sightings)
8. Common gull -


    Nymphalidae
9. Joker   - Abundant (more than 20 sightings)
10. Blue Pansy - Abundant (more than 20 sightings)
11. Lemon Pansy - Abundant (more than 20 sightings)
12. Yellow Pansy -  4-5 sightings
13. Common Four Ring - Common (approx 10 sightings)
14. Common Leopard - Common (approx 10 sightings)
15. Painted Lady - 4-5 sightings
16. Danaid eggfly - 4-5 sightings
17. Plain Tiger - Abundant (more than 20 sightings)
18. Glassy Tiger - Abundant (more than 20 sightings)
19. Common Crow - Abundant (more than 20 sightings)


     Papilionidae
20. Common Rose - Abundant (more than 20 sightings)
21. Crimson Rose - 4-5 sightings


     Lycaenidae
22. Plains cupid - Abundant (more than 20 sightings)
23. Indian Cupid - 1 sighting
24. Gram blue - Common (approx 10 sightings)
25. Lesser grass blue - Common (approx 10 sightings)
26. Common Cerulian - Common (approx 10 sightings)
27. Dark Cerulian - 1-2 sightings
28. Common Pierrot - 1-2 sightings
29. Rounded pierrot - 4-5 sightings
30. Pale grass blue - 4-5 sightings
31. Dark Babul Blue- 4-5 sightings
32. Pale Babul Blue- 4-5 sightings


      Hesperiidae


33. UN ID skipper (dart?) - Only one sighting

Sinhagad Valley Butterflying 18th January 2009

Checklist:

Pappilionidae
1. Common Rose
2. Common mormon
3. Tailed Jay
4. Common lime

Lycaenidae
5. Tiny grass blue
6. Gram blue
7. Silver streak blue *
8. Common hedge blue
9. Common pierrot
10. Rounded pierrot
11. Forget me not

Pieridae
12. Common emigrant
13. Common grass yellow
14. Spotless grass yellow
15. Common jezeble

Nymphalidae
16. Chocolate pansy
17. Grey pansy
18. Blue pansy
19. Yellow pansy
20. Leopard
21. Common Baron female
22. Common nawab
23. Common crow
24. Striped Tiger
25. Blue Tiger
26. Glassy Tiger
27. Common Bushbrown
28. Common evening brown
29. Painted lady
30. Common Sailor
31. Common five ring (dry form)

Total Species count = 31

Link to the Photographs
https://picasaweb.google.com/pinakin.karve/SinhagadValleyButterflying18Jan09

7th National Butterfly Meet at W.Bengal: Buxa WLS & Samsing

The butterfly meet is something a butterflier can not miss. After 6^th Butterfly meet in Andhra Pradesh, discussions for venue of next butterfly meet began. When Suggestion of N.W. Bengal came from ArjanDa, everybody readily agreed to that. Anything that goes near N.E. India or Sikkim promises good butterflying!!

So the Jayanti in Buxaduar Tiger Reserve and Samsing in Neora Valley Sanctuary were finalized. Responsibility of all logistical arrangement was taken by ArjanDa and Rudra, so there was nothing remained to bother about. The dates for the meet were finalized as 15^th March – 20^th March.

Long journey to Kolkata, then to New Alipurduar and another hour by Jeep and we were at the Gates of Buxaduar WLS. From gate itself we started getting promises of rich find. The Buxaduar is a typical Himalayan foothill Jungle. It is a moist evergreen forest with tall trees and lot of undergrowth even in the month of March. You can see many trees hosting orchids which promises moist environment over the year. There are lots of streams flowing through forest. These streams ultimately meet Jayanti River. These stream & river beds are completely filled with rocks and fine soil brought from the mountains which creates perfect environment for mud puddling.

The rest houses at Buxaduar are on great location and very nice, comfortable and clean. They are situated just a hundred meters from Jayanti River, on the edge of Jayanti village. Just by peeping outside window we were able to spot several dozen species of birds and butterflies. Banded blue crow, variety of Jezebels & sailors, Cabbage whites, grass blues & flashes, evening browns & bush browns were seen just around the cottage.

We were total 2 ½ day in the Buxaduar WLS. The first day we took a trail along Jayanti River and surrounding bushes. Second day we took a trail along a stream called ‘Guay Nala.’ On third day, on the way to Samsing we visited a place deep in jungle called 21 mile stone.

First day was fantastic, clear day. The checklist on the first day crossed the mark of 90 species. That includes swordtails, peacocks, red & yellow Helen, windmills, batwings, silver lines, flashes, mimes, zebras, and chocolate albatross. Tiny but beautiful butterflies like orchid tit, fluffy tit were also seen. First day we lack skippers. Only 3-4 types were seen on this day. Second day was also good revealing copper flash, oak blues, shadowy visitors like tree browns, dark palm dart, common earl, grey count. It added about dozen in the previous day’s checklist. But most gratifying was amazing variety of silver lines, glimpses of variety of peacocks and complete showbiz modeling of red breast. Himalayan snow flat, yellow breasted Himalayan flat, chestnut angle were added in the checklist.

Every evening revealed amazing variety of moths and we spotted huge sized geckos eating those beauties. There was one interesting gecko called Tokay’s gecko which was of almost a feet long and was continuously feeding on insects near bulb in our rest house.

On the third day we left Jayanti and started for Samsing. On the way out we visited 21 miles. This is very nice place. It is surrounded by jungle from all sides and there is no trace of human except mud road and a watch tower at the centre. It was very cloudy and hence we weren’t able to spot much species here. But still cloudy environment has its own advantages. This brings out skippers out in open. The instant we arrived on the spot there were two varieties of awls flying around. Along with that we were able to spot some sailors which were not seen on previous two days. Purple Sapphires were also flying around. Finally we had to leave Buxaduar because it started raining and we had a long journey ahead of us before we reach Samsing.

Samsing is another interesting location, situated approximately on 2500 ft from sea level. It is located near the entrance of Neora Valley. It is under jurisdiction of Forest Development Corporation. Original forest is cut for timber purpose and right now there is only tertiary vegetation but it is fenced and well protected so amazing variety is found in this area.

We reached there on 17^th March but weather was cloudy and it was drizzling. It rained entire night but the morning came with bright sun. The morning came with the sightings of Palmfly, Clear Sailors, Countless Sapphires, Blue tit. After breakfast we started our real trail. We walked along the tar road. This day was simply amazing. The first good sighting was Common Gem. Krishna peacock was flying around. It was followed by Tawny Rajah. Then came red base jezebel and common birdwing. Common sergeant, Staff sergeant, Colour sergeant were giving their glimpses. Crossing the bushy land we entered into a wooded area and there we got the catch of the meet Blue Imperial. It was there for just 15 seconds but we were able to grab few snaps. Further down the trail we spotted Golden Sapphire, Plane, Poppin Jay, Tabby, and Common Maplet. We were overjoyed with the staggering number of sightings. Our checklist crossed the mark of 175 species.

From the experience of last day we expected another great day. But there was no new addition to the checklist except one obscure record of common tinsel. Later noon brought heavy clouds and then in the evening it rained so heavyly that I have experienced never before. The rain was accompanied by icelings and the size of icelings was frightfully large. It was like some weapon bombarding lemon size bullets on us. One hit on your body and pain that will accompany you for next few days!! Obviously no butterflying was possible but this experience was entirely different.

Last day in Samsing was as gloomy last evening. We encountered some new variety of sailors. A Black Prince was sighted flying on a litchi tree. Tawny Angle was spotted in a streambed. But by then it was cloudy again and promised heavy rain so we returned back to rest house. We started our journey to New Jalpaiguri.

Every night during this meet we gathered to identify and summarize the records of the day. Everyday was filled with some new sighting some very common, some very rare, some very confusing. These 6 days were completely filled with butterflying spirit.

This meet was a real success. During entire meet all arrangements of lodging, food and traveling were excellent. All credit goes to our Kolkata members.

There were total 32 of us completely filled with passion of butterflying. People in the village use to stare at us like we were some idiots running after butterflies but we never cared and maintained spirit of butterflying. Later even villagers started contributing in our observations. Important observations were made, trends in sighting were observed, precious data was collected. We finished our 7^th Butterfly meet with 195 species in our checklist and with a lingering desire of staying back at Samsing which really promised good time. We were back to Kolkata on 21^st morning with lot of new friends and new places to look forward.

- Pinakin Karve