Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they imagine a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus brimming with wildlife and plants not typically found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they’re correct – every depiction of Silwood Park is accurate!
As a representative of this lesser-known Imperial community, I would like to emphasize the student experiences, activities, and camaraderie at our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
A Brief Overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor laboratory, covering 77 hectares and encompassing habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an app for documenting and sharing biodiversity observations with a worldwide network of naturalists, shows that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. A further search on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been noted on campus to date.
Even more intriguingly, Silwood Park is home to numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more prominent studies carried out on site.
Life as a Student at Silwood Park
The campus predominantly accommodates postgraduate students with a focus on ecology, conservation, and evolution-related studies. Many of us engage in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Key examples include:
- Chicken Club – tending to the chickens kept behind our student residences
- Book Club – engaging in regular discussions about interesting reads from their book list
- Gardening Club – overseeing the allotments within our community garden
- Conservation Club – arranging nature walks and conservation-oriented activities for Silwood Park students.
Part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also take part in activities of clubs located in South Kensington!
Informally, we have clubs dedicated to sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), based either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Apart from club activities and academic classes, we host numerous community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and facilitates these activities to promote a vibrant and engaging student life! Recently, we held the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community shared languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also commemorated the annual Chinese New Year at the beginning of the year, making dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also had community-organized parties celebrating global events (like Carnival) or simply for the joy of gathering.
My favorite campus event is the weekly pub quiz, coordinated by our student community. It’s part of Silwood culture that the losers of the pub quiz set up the next one, and I can proudly say I’ve organized the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite losing many pub quizzes due to my inadequate general trivia knowledge, there’s always great fun in good company with a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: My Second Home
Even though it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively atmosphere of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never felt dull or lacking. Besides the plethora of events and activities, we enjoy a warm and inviting community of students from around the globe. We all share a love for nature, our beautiful campus grounds, and, more importantly, each other’s presence. We are a close-knit community that relishes stargazing in the winter chill on the open field beside our bar, observing birds and mammals at our room windows, and spending quality time with fellow nature enthusiasts.