Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a vibrant, enchanting, and verdant campus overflowing with wildlife and vegetation not typically present in other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many ways, they are right – every vision evoked of Silwood Park is truthful!
As a member of this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I’d like to emphasize the student experience, activities, and community within our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and showcasing ecosystems such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A quick look on iNaturalist, an application for mapping and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide with a social network of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. A further investigation on eBird reveals that 111 bird species have been documented on campus to date.
Interestingly, Silwood Park is also home to numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more famous studies carried out on-site.
Student experiences at Silwood Park
The campus predominantly accommodates postgraduate students focused on projects linked to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Most of us engage in several clubs based at Silwood Park. Notable examples include:
- Chicken Club – taking care of the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – meeting regularly to discuss interesting books
- Gardening Club – overseeing the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – organizing nature walks and conservation endeavors for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also participate in activities organized by clubs in South Kensington!
Unofficially, we host clubs participating in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports venues in nearby towns such as Bracknell or Ascot.
In addition to club initiatives and classes, numerous community-driven events take place on campus. Silwood Park boasts its student council that organizes and supports such events to maintain a lively and engaging student environment! Recently, we had 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 year’s start, where everyone came together to prepare dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also hosted community-organized celebrations for various global events (like Carnival) or simply for the joy of festivities.
My standout campus event, however, has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It has become a Silwood tradition that the quiz losers must arrange the next one, and I can proudly say I have set the most pub quizzes this year. Even though I’ve lost numerous pub quizzes due to my limited general trivia knowledge, there’s always great enjoyment to be found with good friends and a tasty pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my secondary home
Even though it’s a 30-minute walk from the energetic atmosphere of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), residence at Silwood Park has never seemed tedious or deficient. Beyond the many events and activities, we have a friendly and inclusive community made up of students from across the globe. We all appreciate nature, treasure our stunning campus grounds, and, most importantly, relish each other’s company. We’re a close-knit community that delights in star gazing in the frosty winter on the open field adjacent to our pub, observing the birds and mammals that visit our room windows, and spending time with