Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet focusing on Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
When most students at Imperial picture Silwood Park, they imagine a vibrant, intriguing, and verdant campus alive with wildlife and vegetative species not typically found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they’re correct – every depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As a representative of this lesser-known faction within Imperial, I wish to showcase the student experience, activities, and community at our natural park campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and encompassing habitats such as freshwater rivers, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and expansive meadows. A quick inquiry on iNaturalist, an application for documenting and sharing biodiversity sightings globally within a community of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. Further exploration on eBird reveals that 111 bird species have been noted on campus to date.
Moreover, Silwood Park hosts numerous long-term field research endeavors, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the most recognized studies conducted on-site.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students engaged in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us are involved in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – that looks after the chickens raised at the back of our residence halls
- Book Club – which convenes regularly to chat about interesting reads from their lists
- Gardening Club – which oversees the plots in our community garden
- Conservation Club – which organizes nature excursions and conservation-centered activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
Being part of the larger Imperial student body, numerous individuals also participate in activities organized by clubs located in South Kensington!
Casually, we also have groups that partake in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), either on the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
In addition to club initiatives and classes, we host many community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park has its very own student council that plans and facilitates these activities ensuring an engaging and dynamic student life! Recently, we organized the Silwood language exchange, where our diverse international community came together to share languages and cultures over several weeks, as well as our annual Chinese New Year celebration at the beginning of the year, during which everyone came together to prepare dumplings and couplets to greet the new lunar year. We’ve also enjoyed community-driven celebrations for events from across the globe (like Carnival), and social gatherings purely for the joy of celebrating.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It’s a tradition at Silwood that the losing team of the pub quiz must arrange the next one, and I can proudly state that I have set the most pub quizzes this year. Although I’ve lost many due to my lacking general trivia knowledge, there’s always a wonderful time to be had with great company and an excellent pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute stroll from the lively pulse of civilization (such as the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never felt dull or deficient. Alongside the multitude of events and activities, we have a friendly and inviting community made up of students from various parts of the globe. We all share a love for nature, cherish our stunning campus grounds, and, more importantly, enjoy