Composed by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet focusing on Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus bustling with wildlife and plants that are seldom encountered at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are indeed correct, and each depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As a voice for this lesser-known segment of the Imperial community, I wish to shed light on the student experience, activities, and camaraderie at our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
Welcome to Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and encompassing ecosystems such as freshwater streams, ponds, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A straightforward search on iNaturalist, an application for documenting and sharing biodiversity observations globally within an online naturalist community, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, while an additional search on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been documented to date.
More intriguingly, Silwood Park is home to numerous long-term field research initiatives, including the well-recognized Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project, both of which are conducted on-site.
Life as a Student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily houses postgraduate students keen on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Most of us engage in various clubs that are based in Silwood Park. Notable examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – meeting regularly to discuss items of interest from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – overseeing the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – organizing nature walks and conservation-oriented activities for students at Silwood Park Campus.
Being a part of the broader Imperial student community, many of us also take part in activities offered by clubs based in South Kensington!
In an informal setting, we also have clubs that focus on sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which take place either on the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or in indoor sports facilities found in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
In addition to club activities and classes, we host many community-led events on campus. Silwood Park boasts its own student council that organizes and facilitates these activities to ensure a lively and engaging student life! In recent months, we had the Silwood language exchange, where our largely international community gathered to share languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year at the beginning of the year, where everyone joined in to prepare dumplings and couplets to welcome a new lunar year. We’ve also experienced community-organized celebrations in honor of various global festivities (like Carnival), or parties simply held for the joy of gathering.
However, my favorite campus event by far is the weekly pub quiz, orchestrated by our student community. It’s a tradition at Silwood that the quiz losers are tasked with organizing the next one, and I can proudly claim the record for the most pub quizzes set this year. Even though I’ve lost numerous pub quizzes due to my lack of general trivia knowledge, there’s always plenty of fun to be had with great company and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute stroll from the lively atmosphere of civilization (e.g., the train station and the closest village), life at Silwood Park has never been dull or uninviting. Besides the multitude of events and activities, we share a warm and friendly community made up of students from across the globe. We all share a passion for nature.