Najafgarh Wetlands Breathe Again – Post Lockdown

Desk : On the occasion of World Wetlands Day (2nd Feb) photographs were taken by a young environment lover and bird watcher Bhavya Gupta at various places, nearest one being Najafgarh wetlands.

It was surprised to note that the clicked pictures of the same place near jheel Pre and Post lockdown and that clearly shows marked difference between the phases.

Disclaimer – These images were clicked at Najafgarh wetlands by Bhavya Gupta himself and are not edited even for clarity by us and Bhavya.

Pre- lockdown in Mar ’20 and another is post-lockdown in Aug’20 at same time around 4.30 pm. You can see the difference in Colour of water, Water level, Quality of water and more cleaner. The air is cleaner with Deep blue colour of sky. The drain smell wasn’t there. There was no dumping of waste seen in water.

The water colour of the Najafgarh jheel was beautiful deep blue; perfect reflection of the clean blue sky. The water was also flowing till the bank level with melodious and deep waves’ sound. It was spellbound to be there.
The Nature needs time to heal itself. We need to give it time and see how it comes back to life.

In winters, Najafgarh welcomes many winged guest i.e. migratory birds. On World Wetlands Day, Bar headed geese, Greater Flamingos, Garganey, Greater spotted Eagle, Common coot, Eurasian Marsh harrier, Great cormorant, Pied Avocet, Northern shovelers, Common Teal and huge numbers of Eurasian coots were seen floating all over the water.

Among red-listed migrant species, the census reported the presence of black-tailed godwits, common pochards, greater spotted eagles, northern lapwings, Eurasian curlews and ferruginous ducks, in addition to other species, including common and red-listed ones, which are Delhi-NCR residents. This includes the black-headed ibis, painted stork, Oriental darter, woolly-necked stork, black-necked stork and Sarus crane. The Greater Flamingos were also there in huge numbers spreading their lovely pink colour over the wetland. There was a huge flock of Pied Avocets too. Overall this year a significant rise of other migratory birds was also noticed as well.

Bhavya Gupta said Wetlands are very important to maintain ecosystem. Migratory birds nest near waterbodies since they get the prey easily and return to nests to take care of younger ones. It is important for the resident birds as well.
Officially, Najafgarh is still awaiting its status to be declared as wetland; I sincerely wish that it is given it’s due credit and protection to conserve it’s rich biodiversity.

Photo Courtesy – Pranav Gupta