India, June 28 -- A weekend round at the Chandigarh Golf Club (CGC) can blossom into a naturalist's delight. It was in this manner that the region secured its first record of the rare species, the mottled wood owl, in May 2018 when a golfer stumbled upon its chick on the ground in the groves bisecting the 2nd and 16th holes.

Similarly, last weekend, the fourball of Himachal Pradesh High Court's Chief Justice Gurmeet Singh 'Sunny' Sandhawalia came across a thickish serpent making its way between the groves linking the 4th and 15th holes. A red-wattled lapwing broke out in alarm calls as the serpent's desperation to avoid attention became evident.

The golfers, used to wandering rat snakes, speculated it to be one though its lumbering gait...