Environment

As mentioned earlier in my article Skippers in your garden here the Lantana bush on Cookson Road in Richards Town, Bengaluru attracts a lot of butterflies and one of the most colourful one happens to be the Common Jezebel. The Common Jezebel feeding on the lantana flowers Pic: Vikram Nanjappa. The Common Jezebel Delias eucharis belongs to the family Pierdae which has among its members some of the most familiar of butterflies like Grass Yellows and Emigrants. The name butterfly is derived from members of this family which are predominantly white and yellow and are thus also known as "Whites…

The next time a tree in your neighbourhood is cut, you may actually be able to track it online. NGO Sattva Welfare Association has created a website www.vruksha.com, which aims to make details of all trees in the public space in Bengaluru available online. As a pilot project, the association has completed the tree census of Hampi nagar ward. Around 3000 trees belonging to 39 species were identified in this ward, which has an area of only 1.11 sq km. They covered 102 roads within six months - the main roads had 100-300 trees while the smaller cross roads had…

Trees, plants and shrubs are all important parts of the urban ecosystem. Without them there would be very little urban wildlife. It is impossible to separate the animal from its habitat and Bangalore has the privilege of having many varieties of flowering and non-flowering trees. These trees comprise of both native and non-native species that were introduced into the city. Some of these non-native trees have been in India for long that we take them to be native, some have adapted and flourished so well that we now call them ‘naturalised'. The Temple Tree. Pic: Vikram Nanjappa. The Frangipani ,…

There is always a price tag attached to unbridled growth, and Bengaluru's unmanageable growth has ensured that the quality of life in the city is fast declining. Urban Vision launched the Civic Dialogue Bengaluru 2010 in August, as a forum to develop ideas for a better Bengaluru. Civic Dialogue is structured as a series of monthly competitions where we address a specific theme and invite participants - students and young professionals - to report civic problems around that theme, strategize to solve them and implement ideas with our NGO Collaborative. The competition takes place online click here. The challenge for…

The Spotted Owlet (Athene brama) is one of the many species of owls that have adapted to the urban environment and can be seen quite often in Bangalore. Usually they prefer open habitats including farmlands, groves, and ruins to heavy and dense forests. The spotted owlet has acquired a negative image and is associated with bad omens. Pic: Vikram Nanjappa. It is a squat, white-spotted, greyish-brown owl, approximately the size of a Myna Bird. They have the typical large round head associated with owls and forward-looking yellow eyes. Two races are recognised in India and they are Athene brama indica…

The word 'Rodent' usually makes the hair on the back of our necks stand up. We associate the word with rats and mice which we occasionally encounter near our homes and makes us reach out for our rat traps and rat poison. In our minds they are unwanted pests that need to be dealt with severely. The three-striped palm squirrel is a very adaptable species and have made their home in the urban environment. Pic: Vikram Nanjappa. However there is one rodent that we find extremely cute and which lives in our close proximity. I am referring to the common…

Shramdan on Ambalipura (lower) lake bed started at around 9:45 am on Sunday, September 19th. Residents from our Bellandur ward started coming to the lake bund from 9 am. First to arrive at lake was special invitee Dr Ashwin Mahesh, Ramesh Sivaram from Rainbow Residency and Satheesh Amilineni from Green Glen Layout. The volunteers discussed for a while on how to tackle the weeds and which equipment to use. Ambalipura lakebed wedding in progress. Pic: Satheesh Amilineni. Soon, the volunteers got into lake bed at around 9:45am and started weeding. The plan was to start from one side and proceed…

  For those of us who are fortunate enough to live close to the ever-disappearing lakes of Bangalore, the onset of the rains bring with it a special chorus sung during the night. I am sure everyone is familiar with it. It seems that the perpetuators of this chorus are as joyous as we are for the arrival of life-giving rain. Each new shower of rain is welcomed with a fresh bout of calling. The unseen voice is that of the Indian Bull Frog. The Indian Bull Frog is an integral part of the ecosystem of any pond, well or…

The other day, my four-year-old asked for some salt and used lemon peels. "To clean a brass vessel", she told her surprised grandfather! For the next fifteen minutes she was at complete peace (as were the rest of us!) - polishing away till the vessel shone! Soapnut scrub. Pic: Vinita This set me thinking about how we had lost touch with so many such simple and natural solutions for home cleaning. So I tried to make a list of what I remembered and what I have tried to re-learn along the way. And to be sure, this is not about…

The recently concluded two-day national seminar on Organic Terrace Gardening at the University of Agricultural Sciences (UAS) Alumni Association Convention Centre, Hebbal was in all respects a great meeting point and a good start to a process that seeks to become a nation-wide movement. One of the primary objectives of organising such a seminar was to ensure that organic terrace gardening spreads as a movement across the country, rather than merely as a hobby or passion for a select few. There was also a need felt to bring together like-minded practitioners, individuals and institutions on a common platform and use…