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, enchanting, and green campus alive with wildlife and vegetation that is seldom found in other locations such as South Kensington or White City. In numerous respects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As a spokesperson for this lesser-known segment of the Imperial community, I wish to shed light on the student experience, activities, and the community at our natural parkland campus situated in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor laboratory, covering 77 hectares and showcasing ecosystems such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application designed for documenting and sharing biodiversity observations around the globe within a social network of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, with an additional search on eBird indicating that 111 bird species have been noted so far.
Notably, Silwood Park is also the base for numerous long-term field research initiatives, with well-known projects such as the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two prominent examples conducted on-site.
Campus life at Silwood Park
The campus predominantly hosts postgraduate students with interests in ecology, conservation, and evolution projects. Most of us belong to various clubs based at Silwood Park. Prominent examples include:
- Chicken Club – dedicated to caring for the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who meet regularly to discuss interesting reads from their book lists
- Gardening Club – responsible for maintaining the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – who arrange nature walks and conservation-oriented activities for students on the Silwood Park Campus.
Being part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us are also involved and actively take part in clubs based in South Kensington!
Casually, we also have clubs that participate in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which take place either at the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities located in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and lessons, we host various community-led events on campus. Silwood Park features its own student council that organizes and facilitates these activities, ensuring a lively and thrilling student life! Recently, we held the Silwood language exchange, where our largely international community united to share languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year event at the beginning of the year, where everyone gathered to create dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. Additionally, we’ve organized community parties honoring celebrations from across the globe (like Carnival) or simply for the joy of celebrating.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It has become a Silwood tradition that the quiz losers are tasked with setting the next one, and I can proudly boast the highest count of quizzes set this year. Despite losing many quizzes due to my limited knowledge of general trivia, there’s always great enjoyment in the company of friends and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it is situated a 30-minute stroll from the lively essence of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed ordinary or lacking. Alongside the host of events and activities, we have a friendly and inclusive community made up of students from all over the