Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they visualize a verdant, enchanting, and green campus brimming with wildlife and plants 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 member of this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I aim to showcase the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
Introducing Silwood Park
Silwood Park operates as Imperial’s outdoor laboratory, encompassing 77 hectares and featuring habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A brief look on iNaturalist, an application designed for mapping and sharing biodiversity observations globally with a social network of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been observed on campus, with an additional exploration on eBird revealing 111 bird species documented to date.
Interestingly, 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 notable studies conducted on-site.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus predominantly hosts postgraduate students engaged in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us are involved in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Some noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – who care for the chickens kept behind our residences
- Book Club – who meet regularly to discuss books of interest from their reading lists
- Gardening Club – who oversee the allotments within our community garden
- Conservation Club – who plan nature hikes and conservation activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student community, many of us are also members and actively take part in clubs based in South Kensington!
Casually, we also have groups that indulge in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (which happens to be my personal favorite!), taking place either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at the indoor sports facilities found in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and classes, we host numerous community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park boasts its own student council that organizes and facilitates these events, ensuring an engaging and lively student life! Recently, we held the Silwood language exchange, where our diverse international community united to share languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year festivities earlier this year, where everyone contributed to making dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also hosted community-organized parties celebrating global events (such as Carnival) or simply gatherings for the joy of celebration.
However, my absolute favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz put on by our student community. It’s a tradition at Silwood that the losing team from the pub quiz must organize the next one, and I proudly hold the record for the most quizzes organized this year. Even though I’ve lost countless pub quizzes due to my limited trivia knowledge, there’s always enjoyment to be found with great company and a frosty pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though 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 felt dull or deficient. Beyond the abundant events and activities, we enjoy a friendly and inclusive community filled with students from across the globe. We all share a passion for nature, a love of…