Study backs demand for biodiversity heritage tag

Feb 28, 2022

Aurangabad: The historic Himayat Bagh is home to as many as 182 types of birds, 45 types of butterflies, 80 types of insects, 28 types of spiders, 13 types of snakes along with a wide range of tree species.
The findings were revealed during the first-of-its-kind field study conducted Umbrella Foundation through its researchers — Swarda Joshi and Shraddha Devadhe.
While no documented evidence of flora and fauna was available till date to underline the importance of Himayat Bagh as biodiversity hotspot, the Umbrella Foundation had undertaken the study of the site as a part of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by it for seeking biodiversity heritage tag for the Mughal-era garden.
The study has listed out different perching birds such as sparrows and finches, raptors such as eagles and hawks, shorebirds like sandpipers, waterfowl such as ducks and specialists such as woodpeckers and owls as dwelling species in Himayat Bagh.
Common rose, striped tiger, lemon pansy, blue pansy, chocolate pansy, crimson tip, grass yellow pioneer, blue mormon and common five ring are among 45 types of butterflies found at the Mughal-era garden, which is also home to different snakes including cobra, russel’s viper, Indian rat snake and checkered keelback.
“The Himayat Bagh region is surrounded by hilly area which has small waterbodies and different type of flowering and fruit plants in its surrounding area that provides grounds for feeding, breeding and nesting for avian fauna, insects, reptiles,” the study said.
Stating that the Himayat Bagh houses as many as 310 species of trees including the once that offer nesting to birds, the study adds that the reason behind the good diversity of birds is that there are number of tree species found on the premises of the garden.

Terming Himayat Bagh as unique, ecologically fragile ecosystems having rich biodiversity, the study has underlined the need of proper conservation of the site.