Behind the gate Meet Collie Ennis, the Trinity security guard with a passion for nature and a commitment to conservation How my day begins depends on whether I am due for an early shift: it can be first thing in the morning or an afternoon start. I live with my family near Manor Kilbride, after a childhood in Crumlin and 16 years in Tallaght. If I do have time in the morning I’ll be in the garden, tending to the small menagerie I keep there, in the shed and in the 12 ponds: reptiles and arachnids in the shed, amphibians like frogs and newts in the ponds. This interest has expanded into a parallel career, with conservation work, film set work and a partnership with Trinity’s Zoology Department. I have a podcast called Critter Shed , and on my 40-minute commute I’ll often listen to other nature podcasts, like the excellent In Your Nature from Birdwatch Ireland. I work the gate on Lincoln Place, letting in everyone from dignitaries to deliverymen. I will look over the guest list first thing, to see if we’re expecting anyone notable: Heads of State and famous guest speakers have all passed through on my watch. I’ve been working for the college for nearly two decades. I started working with the Zoology Department by accident. I just got talking to some of the staff members. There was a mutual love of nature and passion for conservation. Eventually I started helping out with open days and public outreach, showing kids tarantulas and snakes. A few years back, Yvonne Buckley, Head of the School at the time, gave me the position of Research Associate. I ended up helping Masters and PhD students, and the partnership continues to this day. I have the privilege of accompanying students on regular trips to Kenya, to collaborate with safari rangers and experience the incredible Rift Valley. Teaching is absolutely a passion: not many people know that we have our own native lizard species, for instance, the viviparous lizard, so- called because they give birth to live young, as Ireland is too cold for incubating eggs. They can be found everywhere, from coastal regions to urban centres. They are really adaptable, and quite cryptic and shy. If you’re strolling along beside a bog or a nature reserve or in the open hills, look for sunny spots like rocks or logs in the early morning, just try to get your eye in and see if you can spot a lizard basking in the sun. Then there are introduced species: the slow worm (a legless lizard) was introduced to Ireland at some stage. There’s a rumour that people brought them over in the 1960s. We’ve spotted them in the Burren, where the main population is, but have also had reports of them in the Midlands and even in Wexford. Conservation priorities in Ireland, for me, should start with our lack of bio security. We have the potential to have a lot of invasive species enter into the country and really mess up our ecosystems. I sometimes undertake to look after animals that have been found at border checks, like a Thai frog that recently snuck into someone’s bags and was saved by the staff at the airport. We need to protect our national parks and create more of them – give more land back to nature! There’s so many invasive species in our national parks and in around the wild areas of Ireland, invasive deer and plants, goats, etc. They are not allowing our native woodlands and forests to regenerate and thrive as they should. At Trinity, people may not realise that security is always on duty. The shifts can be long and tiring, and when I’m done I will probably go home and gravitate towards my ‘zoo’ again to unwind – that or a little freshwater fishing.
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