Composed by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many Imperial students imagine Silwood Park, they picture a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus abundant with wildlife and vegetation not typically found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In numerous respects, they’re correct – every portrayal of Silwood Park is accurate!
As a voice for this lesser-known faction within Imperial, I wish to showcase the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus situated in Ascot, Berkshire.
Introducing Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor laboratory, covering 77 hectares and encompassing habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and open pastures. A brief search on iNaturalist, an application for mapping and sharing biodiversity observations globally with a community of naturalists, shows that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, and a further check on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been documented here so far.
Moreover, Silwood Park hosts numerous long-term field research initiatives, with Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two prominent projects carried out on-site.
Student life at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students engaged in ecology, conservation, and evolution projects. Many of us are affiliated with various clubs based at Silwood Park. Some noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – convening regularly to discuss titles of interest from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – overseeing the allotments within our community garden
- Conservation Club – arranging nature walks and conservation-focused activities for students at Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also join in and take part in activities of clubs based in South Kensington!
Informally, we have clubs that partake in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), hosted either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at the indoor sports facilities situated in nearby towns such as Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and academic lessons, we have numerous community-led events on campus. Silwood Park boasts its own student council that organizes and manages such events to foster a lively and engaging student life! In recent months, we’ve hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community came together to exchange languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year event at the beginning of the year, bringing everyone together to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also seen community-organized festivities commemorating global events (like Carnival), or gatherings arranged simply for the joy of celebration.
However, my favorite campus occasion has to be the weekly pub quiz, orchestrated by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the quiz losers must set the next one, and I can proudly state that I hold the record for the most pub quizzes organized this year. Although I have lost many pub quizzes due to my lacking general trivia knowledge, there’s consistently great fun to be had with good friends and a delightful pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute stroll from the vibrant atmosphere of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or lacking. In addition to the myriad of events and activities, we enjoy a friendly and inclusive community made up of students from across the globe. All