It is a rainy August morning and we are at the 90-acre Vellalore Lake , admiring the calm scenery. Ducks paddle in the still waters, while cormorants and pelicans flutter their wings around the trees on the little islands. As the rain pauses we bask in warm sunshine beside a striking giant 18-ft butterfly replica, orange in colour with a dark brown outer ring, at the city’s first ever Butterfly Park .
It is an installation of the Tamil Yeoman, also known as Tamil maravan , an endemic butterfly of the Western Ghats , the state butterfly of Tamil Nadu. Once inside the park, a profusion of colourful butterflies — the dark blue tiger, blue tiger, common rose, and glossy black common crows — buzz around yellow marigolds, showy orange lantana blooms, red velvet flower bunches and yellow dahlias. The butterfly park at Vellalore Lake| Photo Credit:PERIASAMY M Blue Mormons , the fourth largest butterfly of India and state butterfly of Maharashtra, have been sighted here in great numbers.
A beautiful bluish-green butterfly called the common banded peacock, and other rare ones like medus brown, chocolate albatross, and bamboo tree brown are often seen drinking nectar from the blooms, much to the excitement of butterfly enthusiasts. The sprawling 90-acre Vellalore Lake| Photo Credit:PERIASAMY M When Vellalore Lake, once a hub of migratory birds, ran dry it became a dumping ground for garbage and debris. This blocked the inlet channels that fed the lake with water from the Noyyal, t.