Butterfly Express: Butterfly Gardens for Police Stations

With the monsoon yet to arrive, regular care and maintenance helped sustain all 10 Butterfly Express gardens throughout June. Four interns assisted with deweeding, soil loosening, mulching, composting, garden health assessments and seed collection, while gardeners ensured consistent upkeep during the dry spell. A mud-puddling station was established at Uran Police Station, providing butterflies with access to essential minerals. Together, these efforts helped maintain healthy and vibrant butterfly-friendly habitats across the project sites.

May focused on strengthening the regular maintenance and resilience of all 10 butterfly gardens under Project Butterfly Express. Monthly monitoring visits included soil testing, plant health assessments, pruning, mulching, garden infrastructure maintenance and distribution of biofertiliser kits and butterfly field guides to police staff. To support plant survival during the summer, dry-leaf mulching was maintained across all gardens to retain soil moisture and reduce heat stress, while watering was increased to twice a day to ensure adequate moisture and plant health.

 The butterfly gardens at Panvel ACP and Panvel City Police Stations continued to receive regular care and habitat-strengthening interventions during April. At Panvel ACP, 6 benches were installed for plant uplifting and 15 stakes were added for plant support. At Panvel City Police Station, dead

branches were pruned, along with the installation of 15 stakes and a trellis to support climbers. Dry-leaf mulching was carried out at both sites, and biofertiliser kits were provided to the gardeners to promote plant health. Regular maintenance by the gardeners continues to support the development of healthy, butterfly-friendly spaces.

March focused on expanding awareness and strengthening butterfly-friendly spaces under Project Butterfly Express, supported by DCB Bank Limited. Butterfly exhibits were installed at four police stations—Panvel Taluka, Kalamboli, Kalamboli Headquarters and Taloja—to promote awareness of butterfly diversity and conservation. Alongside this, plantation, garden maintenance, habitat improvement and biodiversity monitoring were carried out across multiple police stations, supported by volunteer participation. Monitoring included butterfly counts, plant health, air quality and noise levels, contributing to healthier and greener police station environments.During phased field visits on 3rd, 4th, and 5th December, installations of plant signages, butterfly feeders, and mini water ponds were successfully completed across all police station sites.

Each garden now functions as a vibrant micro-habitat—supporting pollinators, enhancing urban biodiversity, and serving as an educational and restorative green space within police station premises.

In February, Project Butterfly Express, supported by DCB Bank Limited, focused on the maintenance and monitoring of butterfly gardens across Navi Mumbai police stations. DCB Bank volunteers participated in deweeding, soil loosening, mulching and plantation reviews, helping maintain the health of the gardens. Biodiversity monitoring was also carried out through butterfly counts and plantation health assessments, with several butterfly species and life stages recorded. Staff perception surveys were conducted with police personnel to understand their experience and engagement with the gardens. These activities helped assess the overall health of the gardens, document butterfly diversity and strengthen the connection between police personnel and urban biodiversity., and 5th December, installations of plant signages, butterfly fee

January saw an active phase of youth engagement under Project Butterfly Express, supported by DCB Bank Limited, with 40 students from SIES College, Nerul participating in a week-long volunteering programme across police stations. The students contributed to butterfly garden

maintenance through mulching, watering and plant rearrangement, while engaging with police personnel and gaining hands-on experience in urban biodiversity conservation. The initiative strengthened community participation and demonstrated how police station gardens can serve as spaces for environmental learning, social interaction and meaningful volunteering

 All 10 Butterfly Gardens under the Butterfly Express project across Mumbai and Navi Mumbai are now fully equipped and complete.

During phased field visits on 3rd, 4th, and 5th December, installations of plant signages, butterfly feeders, and mini water ponds were successfully completed across all police station sites.

Each garden now functions as a vibrant micro-habitat—supporting pollinators, enhancing urban biodiversity, and serving as an educational and restorative green space within police station premises.

 November saw steady progress under the Butterfly Express/Patrol initiative with DCB Bank and the Navi Mumbai Police. We completed major landscaping and pathway development at the Sanpada and Nhava Sheva Police Station Butterfly Gardens, including a new pond, winding paths, and a butterfly feeder.

Butterfly Awareness Sessions were conducted across multiple police stations, engaging personnel from Sanpada, Vashi APMC, Khandeswar, Turbhe, Rabale MIDC, Nhava Sheva, and Uran. Sessions covered butterfly ecology, host plants, and habitat conservation. Plantation assessments were also carried out to track plant health and growth.

On 22 November, 61 volunteers from DCB Bank supported garden enhancement work at Vashi and Sanpada by installing plant signages, fencing plants, and creating brick lining.

In October 2025, the Butterfly Patrol Project by iNaturewatch Foundation, in collaboration with DCB Bank and Navi Mumbai Police, expanded its green footprint with the creation of five new Butterfly Gardens at Panvel ACP Office, Panvel City, Khandeshwar, Uran, and Nhava Sheva Police Stations. Each garden features a vibrant mix of nectar and host plants designed to support butterflies through every stage of their life cycle. Enthusiastic police staff actively participated in the plantation drives, turning their premises into mini havens for pollinators. Additionally, a compensatory plantation drive at Sanpada Police Station with 19 DCB Bank volunteers added 60 butterfly-attracting saplings. With ten gardens now established, these spaces are already buzzing with life — a beautiful reminder that when we create habitats for nature, nature immediately responds.  

 In the month of August, we began implementing plans for five butterfly gardens across Navi Mumbai. Our work included plantation activities, ordering plants and pots, and carrying out ground preparation and digging at the Vashi and Sanpada Police Stations. For the other three stations—Vashi APMC, Turbhe MIDC, and Rabale MIDC—we created potted gardens to suit the available space. With these efforts, we successfully completed the development of butterfly gardens at all five police stations.