LIRA VALENCIA
Urban wildlife enthusiast Lira has been dubbed ‘Croydon’s David Attenborough’
CREATOR OF THE MONTH
LIRA VALENCIA was “always curious about nature” – despite having little contact with wildlife in the South Croydon flats where she grew up. That didn’t stop her seeking out creepy-crawlies. At local parks, some kids enjoyed the swings whilst she hunted ants. In her grandparent’s little urban garden – “it felt like the countryside for a child like me who barely touched grass!” – Lira explored “carefree” and discovered a love of snails. She recalls “that excited, tingly feeling when I saw their strange eyes staring back at me!”
Lira would mark shells with a dot of her grandma’s nail polish in the hopes she’d spot her favourites again. Without knowing it, she was using an ecological ‘markcapture-release’ method of measuring population size – a natural scientist.
These early encounters instilled in Lira the “duty to protect living creatures”. Upon discovering birding, her care for the natural world deepened and she was inspired to study Zoology. Now 28, Lira is a London Wildlife Trust Ranger at the Walthamstow Wetlands. Professionally, this journey wasn’t a walk in the park.
With no connections or guidance on entering the environmental sector, Lira explains the pathway becomes “more complicated when you’re from a low socio-economic background with little financial support”. She worked two jobs to save enough money to support volunteer work for Birdlife Malta and on Skomer Island. Often, Lira was tempted to give up and look into office jobs, especially when “lack of representation made me question if I was aiming for something unachievable.” Insecurities and seeds of doubt were planted as “almost everyone I met...
