Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet focusing on Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
When many Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they think of a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus alive with wildlife and plants not typically found at our other campuses like South Kensington or White City. In numerous respects, they are correct – every visual representation of Silwood Park holds true!
As a voice of this lesser-known community within Imperial, I wish to showcase the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus situated in Ascot, Berkshire.
Overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and boasting habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an app dedicated to documenting and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide with a network of nature enthusiasts, shows that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been identified on campus, and a further investigation on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been cataloged on campus to date.
More intriguingly, Silwood Park is also the venue for several long-term field studies, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more recognized initiatives conducted here.
Campus life at Silwood Park
The campus mainly accommodates postgraduate students who are passionate about projects that involve ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us participate in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – which meets regularly to discuss books from their reading selections
- Gardening Club – which oversees the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – organizing nature walks and conservation-oriented activities for students at Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student population, many of us are also active members and regularly engage in clubs based in South Kensington!
Casually, we also partake in clubs that focus on sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which are held either at the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or in indoor sports halls located in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and classes, we host numerous community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and facilitates these activities to ensure a lively and exciting student environment! Recently, we’ve held the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community united to exchange languages and cultures over several weeks, and we celebrated our annual Chinese New Year event at the year’s beginning, where everyone came together to prepare dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also organized community parties celebrating global events (such as Carnival) or parties simply for the joy of gathering.
My preferred campus event, however, is surely the weekly pub quiz, arranged by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the losing team of the pub quiz must organize the next one, and I can proudly claim the record for the most quizzes set this year. Even though I’ve lost numerous pub quizzes due to my lacking general knowledge, there’s always a great time to be had with wonderful company and a refreshing 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 nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never felt dull or insufficient. In addition to the many events and activities, we enjoy a friendly and inviting community made up of students from around the globe. All of