Written by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus filled with wildlife and flora rarely found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they’re correct – and each depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As an ambassador of this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I wish to shed light on the student experience, activities, and community within our natural parkland campus situated in Ascot, Berkshire.
An introduction to Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and showcasing various habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and broad grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application designed for mapping and sharing biodiversity observations globally with an online community of naturalists, shows that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, and an additional search on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been logged on campus thus far.
Additionally, Silwood Park hosts numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more prominent studies conducted on-site.
Student life at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students passionate about ecology, conservation, and evolutionary projects. Most of us belong to various clubs based at Silwood Park. Here are a few notable examples:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of the chickens housed behind our residence halls
- Book Club – meets regularly to discuss selected books from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – oversees the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – arranges nature walks and conservation-oriented activities for students on the Silwood Park Campus.
Being part of the broader Imperial student network, many of us also engage in clubs based in South Kensington!
Informally, we have clubs involved 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 at the indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
In addition to club activities and classes, we partake in numerous community-led events on campus. Silwood Park operates its own student council that organizes and facilitates these activities to promote a lively and dynamic student experience! Recently, we hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our diverse international community gathered 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 united to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. Community-organized parties celebrating global events (like Carnival), or parties hosted simply for the enjoyment of gatherings, have also taken place.
Nonetheless, my favorite campus event unquestionably has to be the weekly pub quiz, coordinated by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the quiz losers must organize the next, and I can proudly assert that I hold the record for the highest number of pub quizzes arranged this year. Despite my frequent losses in pub quizzes due to my limited knowledge of general trivia, there’s always a great time to be had with good company and a refreshing pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my home away from home
Even though it’s a 30-minute stroll from the lively buzz of civilization (e.g., the train station and nearby village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or lacking. Beyond the multitude of events and activities, we enjoy a warm and friendly community made up of students from all over the