Composed by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet specializing in Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enigmatic, and thriving campus filled with wildlife and flora that are rarely found on our other campuses like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As a representative of this less-familiar community within Imperial, I would like to showcase the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
A brief overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and featuring habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and open grasslands. A straightforward search on iNaturalist, an application that allows users to map and share biodiversity observations worldwide with a network of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, and a further inquiry on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been noted on campus thus far.
Moreover, Silwood Park is also the venue for numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more recognized studies conducted on-site.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily hosts postgraduate students engaged in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Most of us belong to 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 that pique their interest
- Gardening Club – which oversees the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – which organizes nature walks and conservation-related activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student community, many of us are also active members and regularly engage in events hosted by clubs based in South Kensington!
Additionally, we have informal clubs that partake in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (which happens to be my favorite!), taking place either on the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or at the indoor sports facilities in nearby towns such as Bracknell or Ascot.
Apart from club activities and classes, we have numerous community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and enables such activities to ensure we maintain a lively and thrilling student life! Recently, we hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our mostly international community united to share our languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year at the beginning of the year, with everyone coming together to create dumplings and couplets to welcome in the new lunar year. We’ve also enjoyed community-organized parties celebrating diverse traditions from around the globe (like Carnival), or parties held simply for the enjoyment of celebration.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, coordinated by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the losing team of the pub quiz is responsible for setting the next one, and I can proudly claim the record for the most pub quizzes set this year. Despite my many losses in various pub quizzes owing to my limited knowledge of general trivia, there’s always great enjoyment to be found with wonderful company and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my sanctuary beyond home
Even though it’s a 30-minute stroll from the lively essence of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or wanting. Beyond the multitude of events and activities, we have a friendly and inviting community made up of students from