Mumbai's Annual Butterfly Festival Is Back. Here's Why You Should Sign Up

India has some stunningly beautiful butterflies. However, if you have been reading the news, you would know that all is not well for butterflies. Most species are now threatened, mostly due to declining habitats, toxic chemicals like fertilisers, and extreme weather conditions. Several organisations across the country work towards the conservation of butterflies, including Mumbai's own nature conservation organisation, The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).

BNHS has an annual celebration of these special winged creatures in the form of a festival that provides the chance to see, enjoy, and learn about local butterflies and moths. The event is back this October. And you will once again be able to catch myriad butterflies sipping nectar on a trail brimming with flowers. The walks will be guided by experts. Non-lepidopterists should be enthralled by the diversity and abundance of butterflies here.

The specially curated event includes fun activities for all ages such as butterfly trails, getting up close with caterpillars, and learning the life cycle of butterflies. If you are with kids, you can sign them up for the art exhibition, tattoo painting sessions, and more.

Also Read Why Aren't We Talking Enough About Butterflies In India

The event will be held at the BNHS Conservation Education Centre, near Film City, Goregaon (E). The 33-acre forest where CEC is located is home to more than 130 species of butterflies, including the Blue Mormon, the State Butterfly of Maharashtra.  So remember to mark your calendars.

You can also sign up for their basic course in Butterfly Studies, which includes field visits around Mumbai and field camps to various butterfly habitats across India. In fact, BNHS has several interesting courses and workshops throughout the year. For instance, the BNHS Flamingo Watch, where you can learn to distinguish between the greater and lesser flamingos, their feeding habits, their migration patterns, etc. Keep tabs on their Insta page for updates.

Butterfly watching is fun, until you come home and start organising the pictures. If you&rsquove just ventured into collecting or studying Lepidoptera (that&rsquos the order moths and butterflies belong to), cataloguing species is an important step. But if it takes too long, it sucks the fun out of this weekend hobby. A new Indian website hopes to make this process a little easier for enthusiasts and experts, so that they may save time, better understand ecology, and accurately add previously unknown species to their portfolio. Pathanga Suchaka is an online bio-resource portal that uses artificial intelligence to identify up to 800 common butterfly species and 500 moth species in India. Read more about it here.

Related The Butterfly Effect

The Information

When October 15 and 16, 2022. Timings 7.30 am to 9 am 10am to 11.30 am

Where The BNHS Conservation Education Centre, near Film City, Goregaon (E)

Fees Rs300 per person per session

Email for registration and further details at cec-mumbai@bnhs.org

Call 91 8591318027, 91 8591315589, 919594953425