Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students imagine Silwood Park, they picture a vibrant, enigmatic, and green campus brimming with wildlife and plant species seldom found at other campuses like South Kensington or White City. In countless respects, they’re correct – every portrayal of Silwood Park holds true!
As a spokesperson for this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I wish to showcase the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor laboratory, covering 77 hectares and encompassing habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an app designed for mapping and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide within an online social network of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, and a further inquiry on eBird shows that 111 bird species have been documented on campus to date.
More intriguingly, Silwood Park is home to numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more prominent studies carried out on-site.
Student experience at Silwood Park
The campus mainly accommodates postgraduate students focused on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Most of us engage in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Prominent examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of the chickens kept behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who frequently convene to discuss intriguing reads from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – who maintain the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – who arrange nature walks and conservation-centric activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us are also members and actively participate in clubs based in South Kensington!
Casually, we have groups engaged in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my own favorite!), which take place either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or in the indoor sports facilities located in nearby towns such as Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and classes, numerous community-driven events occur on campus. Silwood Park boasts its own student council that organizes and promotes these events to maintain a lively and engaging student life! Recently, we’ve hosted the Silwood language exchange, bringing our largely international community together to share languages and cultures over several weeks, alongside our annual Chinese New Year celebration at the year’s beginning, where everyone joined together to create dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also seen community-organized parties celebrating global events (like Carnival) or festivities arranged simply for the joy of having a party.
My personal favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, hosted by our student community. It’s a part of Silwood culture that the quiz losers organize the next round, and I can proudly say I’ve set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Even though I’ve lost many quizzes due to my limited general trivia knowledge, there’s always a great time to be had with delightful company and a quality pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Although it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively atmosphere of civilization (such as the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or lacking. Beyond the multitude of events and activities, we have a friendly and inclusive community made up of students from all corners of the globe. We all share a passion for nature,