"NO, THE dhanesh doesn't nest here anymore," said Shankar Chandrakant Sakpal, referring to the Great Pied Hornbill. "They disappeared quite a few years ago."

Sakpal was standing in the dev rahati (sacred grove) of Nandivse village in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra. The 4-ha sacred grove of the village is a sad remnant of what it used to be, thanks to a social forestry scheme that cut down several trees and replaced them with acacia.

Sakpal insists that all the groves in the region met a similar fate. "The only exception is the grove of Tivri village," he said, pointing to a hill engulfed by clouds. "You have to walk 15 km from the road and then another 3 km to get to their dev rahati. The dhanesh still nests there and that's why they are so rich." In an undertone, he added," Do you really want to go there? If you do and write about it, the forest department will go there too and plant acacia. Can't you leave the grove alone?"

Tivri's grove is not found in the inventory of Pune-based botanist M D Vartak and Indian Institute of Science professor Madhav Gadgil or in the social forestry department records. It is only about 1.5 ha and is full of trees like the White dammar. It is about 3 km from the small, 125-household, hilltop village with only a fair-weather road.

Says Abarji Pandurang of Tivri, who spent some time in Bombay but returned to the village, "The grove is dedicated to death. For centuries, we have been getting wood for cremation from that grove. We can't take any minor forest produce or use wood for fuel. In any case, we have enough trees in our fields for fuel. For cremating, we cut very common trees, and that too deadwood and some of the scrub. If we cut the big trees, we will destroy the birds' nests and ultimately, the forest."

The Great Pied Hornbill can be heard calling here, especially in the month of March.