Meeting : Léa, LPO coordinator
To finish our trip in the Tarn, we observed the natural reserve of Cambournet-sur-le-Sor. We were able to identify the species thanks to Léa, LPO animator, who taught us more about this superb place. Meeting with a passionate person.
Who is Lea?
With a gendarme father, Léa Grzych traveled a lot in her childhood. She has always observed a great diversity of biodiversity and has, from the beginning, an interest in biological subjects and animation. For her studies, she had one goal: to find a subject that would fascinate her enough to be able to work on it for hours without getting bored. With her childhood in the nature, she naturally goes towards a scientific course of study with the option of SVT, then towards a licence in this continuity.
With her master's degree in environmental management in hand, she embarked on a civic service mission at ASPAS. Léa has always been attracted by animation and pedagogy, that's why she then applied to become an environmental educator at the LPO: it allows her to combine her studies and her other passion.
He was obviously asked what his favorite bird was: it's not any particular individual, but nocturnal raptors in general. They are difficult to observe and shrouded in mystery, which makes them all the more fascinating.
To be an LPO animator
Léa's days are varied. She is in charge of the animation for school groups, but not only. There is also a more administrative part: she has to answer the many emails and phone calls and manage her schedule to organize the coming of the public. Finally, she also spends time creating activities adapted to each type of group that comes to visit the reserve.
When school classes (from kindergarten to master, but most of them are in primary school) want to come and observe the species of Cambournet-sur-le-Sor, Léa first spends half a day with them in class to initiate them. Thus, when the children arrive on the reserve, they are aware of what they will see and have a better time.
Léa is also in charge of the observatory of the reserve. With Océane, she welcomes passers-by at the observation post. She also organizes various nature outings for the general public: ornithology workshops, observations at dusk, or the overall discovery of the site or awareness on invasive species.
In short, Léa's schedule is very busy! What she prefers, it is to feel useful by educating and sensitizing all kinds of public with animations which she created.
As we can see through Léa's work, education is one of the spearheads of the LPO. During our visit, Léa taught us to recognize the different species present on the site, but also made us aware of the good gestures to adopt in this kind of places. Discretion, respect and cleanliness are the key words!
Recommendations
Lea impressed us with her knowledge and passion for her job, here is her list of recommendations.
To better understand biodiversity :
-The documentary series Our Planet, available on Netflix, gives a good understanding of what an ecosystem is and the issues involved.
-For ornithology, the book Les oiseaux de France et d'Europe, is full of information in a playful way and is easy to handle. It is sold on the LPO store (with a CD of bird songs).
To discover the Tarn region :
-Discover the Black Mountain. Monitoring and programs of the LPO
-Walk in the forest of Gresigne
-Visit the natural history museum of Gaillac.
