Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet focusing on Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
When many students at Imperial think of Silwood Park, they picture a vibrant, enchanting, and green campus flourishing with wildlife and vegetation seldom found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As a representative of this lesser-known segment of the Imperial community, I wish to emphasize the student experience, activities, and camaraderie at our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
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 brief search on iNaturalist, an app designed for mapping and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide among a network of naturalists, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. An additional check on eBird shows that 111 bird species have been identified on campus to date.
Of particular interest, Silwood Park is home to numerous long-term field research endeavors, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the most notable studies conducted here.
Life as a Student at Silwood Park
The campus mainly accommodates postgraduate students passionate about ecology, conservation, and evolution projects. Many of us participate in various clubs based at Silwood Park, including:
- Chicken Club – tending to the chickens that are raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – regularly meeting to discuss captivating books
- Gardening Club – maintaining the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – coordinating nature walks and conservation initiatives for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also engage in activities from clubs based in South Kensington!
Informally, we have clubs participating in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), held either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or in indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
In addition to club activities and classes, we host numerous community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park boasts its own student council that organizes and facilitates these activities to ensure a lively and dynamic student life! Recently, we’ve enjoyed the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community exchanged languages and cultures over several weeks, and our annual Chinese New Year celebration at the beginning of the year, where everyone gathered to make dumplings and couplets to ring in the new lunar year. We’ve also had community-driven parties celebrating global events (like Carnival) or parties simply for the joy of gathering together.
My favorite campus event, however, has to be the weekly pub quiz, hosted by our student community. It’s a part of Silwood culture that the team with the worst score on the pub quiz must organize the next one, and I can proudly affirm the highest number of pub quizzes set this year. Despite losing many pub quizzes due to my limited trivia knowledge, I always have a great time with wonderful company and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively atmosphere of civilization (like the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never come across as monotonous or insufficient. Alongside the myriad of events and activities, we enjoy a friendly and inviting community made up of students from all corners of the globe. We all share a love for nature, appreciate our stunning campus landscape, and, most importantly, relish each other’s company. We form a tightly-knit community that delights in stargazing in the winter chill on the open field adjacent to our bar, observing the birds and mammals that visit.