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Crispin Holloway has counted and recorded butterflies on the same patch of the Sussex Downs for the past 14 summers

A familiar face to hungry staff and students across campus, Senior Catering Assistant Crispin Holloway knows as well as anyone the difficulties of working full time and being a mature student, as well as dealing with dyslexia. He has worked in busy campus cafés since 2004 and graduates today (Friday 24 July) from Sussex with a 2:1 BA in Landscape Studies. 

With a keen interest in field biology and ecology, particularly butterflies, the CCE student's dissertation about conservation was awarded a first-class mark, despite increasing pressures at home and work which stopped him from doing any dissertation work during the vital Easter period. 

He says: "After a day's work I would go home and try and get on with my dissertation - often working on it until 1am or later, then work the next day! 

"Somehow the adrenalin kept me going."

Crispin describes his dyslexia as like being "left-handed in a world designed for right-handers". He says: "Dyslexia was a slight problem when writing things up - it just took longer and had some errors. 

"Personally I don't see dyslexia as a disability but as a different way of thinking and learning." 

He has spent the last 14 summers walking the same patch of Downland near Lewes each week, counting and recording butterflies using a dictaphone - which he admits can make him "look a bit odd". This vital conservation work for the Sussex Wildlife Trust was featured in the Daily Telegraph on 4 July. 

Crispin currently works in the Espresso café in the Library but has worked in nearly all campus cafés over the last five years. He intends to carry on working at Sussex but is spending 10 weeks this summer carrying out field research for Exeter University. 

In the future he hopes to compile a database of native flora and fauna found on the Sussex campus.