In its sixth year of Margazhi Thiruvizha that ended on Saturday, Care Earth Trust, a city-based biodiversity organisation, hosted it’s all women nature walk for the first time in the city.
With an aim to highlight the significance of urban biodiversity among different dedicated groups for nature walks, the curated bird watch experience was started to coincide with the bird migratory season. This year, it organised 12 nature walks in various locations, including Pallikaranai Eco Park, Vengathur, Okkiam Maduvu and Unamancheri since mid-December. Nearly 236 participants, including school students, enthusiastically took part in these nature trails.
Anjana Vencatesan, senior researcher, Care Earth Trust, said a group of 19 women took part in the Trust’s first walk for the dedicated group at Nanmangalam reserve forest. They spotted 25 bird species, including Asian Wood Swallow, Asian Palm Swift and Booted Eagle and 13 butterfly species at the walk.
“We wanted to curate walks to cater to specific groups. We have done walks that are exclusively for students. We have had walks with Madras Photo Bloggers that had hearing impaired participants and a sign language interpreter,” she said.
The organisation covered aspects of significance of urban biodiversity that is not restricted to only a few places and emphasises the need for habitats such as wetlands for rich biodiversity. “We have spotted even 63 bird species at Okkiam Maduvu. We have recorded 449 plant species in Nanmangalam reserve forest through our rapid biodiversity survey. These walks help in creating awareness on scope for conservation in Chennai,” she said.
Published – January 12, 2025 01:08 am IST