Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they conjure up an abundant, enigmatic, and verdant campus filled with wildlife and vegetation rarely found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In numerous aspects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park is accurate!
As a spokesperson for this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I’d like to emphasize the student experience, activities, and community within our naturally rich parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
A brief overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s open-air laboratory, covering 77 hectares and featuring environments such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and expansive grasslands. A simple inquiry on iNaturalist, an application for cataloging and sharing biodiversity observations globally within an online community of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, with an additional search on eBird documenting 111 bird species thus far.
Notably, Silwood Park is also the host to numerous long-term field study projects, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more recognized initiatives conducted on-site.
Student experiences at Silwood Park
The campus primarily houses postgraduate students focusing on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us belong to various clubs established at Silwood Park. Prominent examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens kept behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who meet regularly to discuss intriguing titles on their reading lists
- Gardening Club – who tend to the allotments in our communal garden
- Conservation Club – who arrange nature excursions and conservation-oriented activities for students at Silwood Park Campus.
Being part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us are also members and actively engage in activities organized by clubs in South Kensington!
Casually, we also have clubs that partake in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which take place either on the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and classes, we host various community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and coordinates such events to foster a lively and engaging student life! Recently, we held the Silwood language exchange, where our largely international community united to share languages and cultures over a few weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year at the beginning of the year, where everyone collaborated to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. Additionally, we’ve enjoyed community-organized parties commemorating global events (such as Carnival), or parties arranged simply for the joy of celebrating.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It’s an integral part of Silwood culture that the losing teams of the pub quiz are responsible for hosting the next one, and I can proudly declare that I have set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite the numerous defeats I’ve faced due to my poor general trivia skills, there’s always great enjoyment to be had with delightful company and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s situated a 30-minute stroll from the lively bustle of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never appeared dull or unexciting. Along with countless events and activities, we enjoy a friendly and inclusive community made up of students from all corners of the globe. All