Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet specializing in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they envision a verdant, enchanting, and green campus rich with flora and fauna rarely encountered at other campuses such as South Kensington or White City. In numerous respects, they are correct – every representation of Silwood Park holds true!
As a voice from this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I wish to shed light on the student experience, activities, and community within our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
A brief overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor laboratory, covering 77 hectares and features habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, a platform for mapping and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide within an online community of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. A further exploration on eBird shows that 111 bird species have been identified on campus to date.
Notably, Silwood Park is home to numerous long-term field research endeavors, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the most recognized projects carried out on-site.
Life for students at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students engaged in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Most of us belong to various clubs based at Silwood Park. Prominent examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of the chickens raised behind our residential halls
- Book Club – who convene regularly to discuss books of interest from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – caretakers of the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – who coordinate nature walks and conservation-related activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also engage in activities offered by clubs in South Kensington!
Informally, we have clubs participating in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which take place either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or in indoor sports facilities located in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Beyond club activities and classes, we host several community-led events on campus. Silwood Park features its own student council, which organizes and manages such events to ensure an engaging and lively student experience! In recent months, we held the Silwood language exchange, bringing together our predominantly international community to share languages and cultures over several weeks. We also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year event at the beginning of the year, where everyone gathered to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. Community-organized festivities have included celebrations from around the globe (like Carnival) or parties thrown simply for the enjoyment of being together.
However, my favorite campus activity has to be the weekly pub quiz, orchestrated by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the quiz losers must prepare the following one, and I can proudly claim to have set the most pub quizzes this year. Though I’ve lost numerous quizzes due to my limited general trivia knowledge, there’s always an enjoyable time to be had with great company and a refreshing pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively ambiance of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never felt tedious or insufficient. In addition to the myriad events and activities, we boast a friendly and inviting community made up of students from across the globe. Our shared love for nature,