CNHS Annual Report 2010-2011

Dear members,

We welcome you to the First Annual General Body meeting of our Society.
Our society was formed and registered on 13th January 2010 under the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955)and with Reg. No. ER 18/10 of 2010 .The Society was formed by seven like minded individuals interested in the study and conservation of the biodiversity of the region .We have now grown by adding more members and have fifteen members on our rolls now. We are in the process of enrolling more like-minded persons. The Society is formed with the broad aim of exploring, studying and protecting the rich biodiversity around us.

I. OFFICE BEARERS FOR THE REPORT YEAR:
1. Dr. Dilip K.G President
2. Mrs.Smitha.K.Komath Vice President
3. Mr. Vishnupriyan Kartha K Secretary
4. Mr. Ginu George Treasurer
5. Mr. Jai .P.Jacob Joint Secretary
6. Mr. Manoj P.G. Joint Secretary
7. Mr. Anil. N.S. Member
In the past year we have undertaken various activities along these lines. We have listed below the details:
1. Our Society conducted an intensive Bird Survey in Pampadumpara region of Mankulam Division along with the Kerala Forest Department to search and to locate a single species of bird – Nilgiri Laughingthrush (Trochlapteron cachinnans cachinnans) - which was believed to be present in the region. The effort was also a humble attempt to add to the existing faunistic wealth of the area.

2. Our society successfully organized the Kerala Bird Race 2010 along with Kerala Birder and HSBC Banking Corporation. Around 140 enthusiastic bird watchers including our members participated in it, and the Chief Guests of the concluding ceremony were Hon. Minister for Transport Adv. Jose Thettayil and Dr. B S Corrie Addl. PCCF of Kerala Forest Department. Both of them congratulated the participants and enlightened us on the importance conservation of nature and the need to encourage people, to get actively involved in bird watching and other such nature study activities.

3. House Sparrow Monitoring Project (ongoing project).

Recently there has been several reports of on a possible decline on the numbers of house sparrows from all over .To build up a bench mark data of the House sparrows in our locality, our President Dr. Dilip K G initiated an ongoing study on the sighting and monitoring of the sparrows from our region .It is an ongoing project and all our members are earnestly requested to contribute to this study by recording sightings of the House Sparrows on our Blog.

4. Mission Woodcock (ongoing project).

This is an exploratory mission to find an elusive and sporadic straggler to the lower plains -Woodcock. The Woodcock (Scolapax rusticola) has been sighted for several days at Kodunganur, (lat. 80 30’ 56.58” N., long. 770 23.05” E. 22 mts. MSL) Trivandrum in November 1988, in a nutmeg plantation! Our society endeavours to locate this bird in similar habitats adjacent to Periyar in Ernakulam and Karamanayar in Trivandrum from November 2009 onwards, following the hunch that the bird may be visiting similar habitats during the season. Hence the mission is to look-out for this bird during the North-East Monsoon season in nutmeg plantations along the riverbanks of Periyar at Kalady and Karamanayar at Kodunganur, where thin films of water lay stagnated after the rains. Any report of sighting elsewhere is also welcomed and will be duly acknowledged.

5. Planting of Mangrove Saplings in the coastal regions of Kochi, in connection with the Wildlife Week celebration 2010.

The members of CNHS actively took part in the Wildlife Week Celebrations and our members Mr. Basil Peter and Mr. Nelson initiated planting of various species of mangrove saplings supplied by Kerala Forest Department, in Kalathara wetlands, near Thoppumpady.

6. Conducted a one day bird watching trip to Bhooththankettu-Idamalayar region on 5th December 2010.Twenty enthusiastic bird watchers including our members participated in the programme and we sighted about 78 species of birds and got some good pictures also.

7. Conducted a preliminary Survey at the Dewaswam Padam Wetlands of Varapuzha, Kochi.

The CNHS was approached by some farmers and activists of the Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) from Varapuzha, Kochi to find out some solutions to a serious problem faced by them. Their grievance was that the Purple Swamphens - variedly known as Purple Moorhen, Gallinule or Purple Coot – are causing immense damages to their paddy cultivation, leaving them helpless against the already uneconomic agriculture. This was another instance of Human-Wildlife conflict which warranted a balanced but effective intervention by those concerned with human-nonhuman survival. The Devaswom Paadam Water Bird Count- Februaray 2011 was the sequel of an earlier enquiry conducted by the Cochin Natural History Society (CNHS) in January 2011 with the aim of assessing the extent and gravity of destruction caused by the Purple Swamphens (Porphyrio porphyrio) to the paddy cultivation in the region. The Water bird count conducted in February 2011 was significant because this was the first water bird count that has ever taken place in the wetlands of Ernakulam district. It has been instrumental in contributing to the Asian Waterfowl Census (AWC).


8. Bird Survey Camp in Malayattoor-Idamalayar-Pooyamkutty Forests. (11th to 14th February 2011)

Our Society along with Kerala Birder internet mailing group and Kerala Forest Department conducted a major Bird Diversity Assessment Survey in the whole of Malayattoor Division of forests covering approx. 600 sqkms. Seventy amateur birdwatchers and ornithologists from all over south India including our members took part in the survey and submitted a preliminary report to the KFD. The data so collected is being analyzed by a team led by Prof.Dr. P O Nameer of College of Forestry, KAU and the final report will be submitted soon.

9. In addition to the above, our members took part in many birdwatching programmes, surveys and environmental education programmes in their individual capacity. Some of them are Neyyar-Peppara Bird Survey and the recently held pan Kerala Wild Life Population Estimation exercise.

All these efforts have hopefully contributed to increasing the knowledge and data on the rich biodiversity of our region. This will surely help in raising awareness of authorities and shall help in protecting and nurturing the biodiversity of our area.

At the end of the current year we have fifteen persons on our membership .We earnestly request our members to persuade more like -minded persons to join our society.

10. In order to disseminate the information of our society`s activities and to publish the results of our various activities and also to provide a platform to communicate with members etc we have started a blog called http://cochinnaturalhistorysociety.blogspot.com. The initiative for this was taken by our Vice President Smt. Smitha K .Komath. She also designed the blog.

CONCLUSION:

We have been able to do much work towards our goals during the report year with the whole hearted participation of our esteemed members. We look forward to continue our efforts to study and protect our biodiversity and environment and solicit the participation and co-operation our members and general public in this endeavor.

With this we place this report in our first Annual General body Meeting for the consideration and approval of our members.



Sd/- Sd/- Sd/-

President Secretary Treasurer