Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they imagine a vibrant, enchanting, and green campus alive with animals and plants rarely observed at other sites such as South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they’re correct – every depiction of Silwood Park is truthful!
As a voice from this lesser-known part of Imperial, I’d like to emphasize the student experience, activities, and community in our natural parkland campus situated in Ascot, Berkshire.
A glimpse into Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor laboratory, covering 77 hectares and showcasing habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and wide-open grasslands. A quick look on iNaturalist, an app dedicated to mapping and sharing biodiversity observations globally with a community of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. An additional search on eBird reveals that 111 species of birds have been noted on campus to date.
Moreover, Silwood Park is a hub 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 carried out on-site.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus mainly accommodates postgraduate students focused on ecology, conservation, and evolution projects. The majority of us participate in various clubs hosted at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – tending to the chickens raised behind our residences
- Book Club – consistently conversing about interesting books from our reading selections
- Gardening Club – overseeing the allotments within our community garden
- Conservation Club – coordinating nature walks and conservation endeavors for students at Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also engage in activities of clubs located in South Kensington!
Casually, we have clubs participating in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), based either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) situated on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
In addition to club activities and lessons, we host various community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its very own student council that organizes and manages these activities, fostering a lively and vibrant student life! In recent months, 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, where everyone participated in making dumplings and couplets to ring in the new lunar year. We’ve also hosted community-organized festivities celebrating global events (such as Carnival) or simply for the joy of gatherings.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, orchestrated by our student community. A Silwood tradition is that the winners of the pub quiz determine the next quiz format, and I can proudly declare that I set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite losing countless pub quizzes due to my inadequate general trivia knowledge, there’s always delightful fun with great company over a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute stroll from the lively spirit of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed monotonous or deficient. Beyond the numerous events and activities, we share a warm and inviting community of students from around the globe. We all cherish nature, our stunning campus grounds, and, most importantly, each other’s companionship. We are a close-knit community that delights in stargazing amidst the winter chill in the open field beside our bar, observing the birds and mammals that visit our room windows, and spending time with fellow nature enthusiasts.