Modhva is a fishing village just eight kilometres from Mandvi town in Kutch, Gujarat. With its dry and salty expanse of alluvial mudflats, extensive grasslands and miles of coast, Kutch appears as an endless stretch of flatland, punctuated by dry thorn forests and small hillocks. The unique geographical location and habitat puts it at the crossroads of Palaearctic migration streams, enticing a great variety of birds to find refuge here.
The small fishing community in Modhva is busy round the year, netting fish, prawn and lobsters. However, this scenic village located on the Gulf of Kutch has two major fishing seasons — monsoon (August to October) and winter (October to February).
From November to March, the place is aflutter with resident and migratory birds. Famed for its oyster beds and sand dunes, the Modhva coast is the place to catch sight of crab plovers, the winged visitors from Iran and Iraq, as also the oystercatchers during winter and the nearly 500 greater flamingos that nest here.
The avian who’s-who runs the gamut from sanderlings and curlew-sandpipers to greater and lesser sandplovers, dunlins, ruddy turnstones, five species of seagulls (slenderbilled, brown-headed, black-headed, Palla’s and Heuglins gulls).
Against a vividly colourful backdrop of a setting sun, Modhva offers spectacular views of fishermen going to sea, as birds fly low or preen or feed all around.
But there’s trouble brewing in this paradise. As tourist interest grows, the beaches are neither isolated nor as pristine as before.
In the not-too-distant horizon, smoke billows from the chimneys of power plants and windmills. The village and its traditional fishing ground are slowly choking on the fly-ash spewed by industrial giants, says Jugal Kishor Tiwari, founder of the CEDO (Centre for Desert and Ocean) trust.
Working towards wildlife conservation and research in rural areas of the Kutch desert since 2005, CEDO has witnessed the steady deterioration of this invaluable ecosystem.
The airborne and nesting feathered denizens can no longer take this centuries-old hospitality for granted.
Praveen P Mohandas is an architect and photographer based in Thrissur