Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enigmatic, and thriving campus filled with wildlife and greenery rarely found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In numerous respects, they’re correct – every depiction of Silwood Park holds true!
As a voice for this lesser-known segment of Imperial, I wish to shed light on the student experience, activities, and community within our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
Introducing Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor laboratory, covering 77 hectares and encompassing environments such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application dedicated to mapping and sharing biodiversity observations globally through a social network of naturalists, shows that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, while an additional search on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been noted thus far.
Notably, Silwood Park is the location for numerous long-term field research initiatives, with projects like the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more prominent ones conducted on-site.
Student experience at Silwood Park
The campus predominantly hosts postgraduate students keen on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Most of us belong to various clubs based at Silwood Park. Some noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who meet regularly to discuss their reading lists
- Gardening Club – who oversee the community garden’s allotments
- Conservation Club – who arrange nature walks and conservation-oriented activities for students at Silwood Park Campus.
Being part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us are also members of and actively engage in clubs based in South Kensington!
Additionally, we have informal clubs that participate in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), held either at the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Apart from club activities and classes, we host numerous community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and supports these activities to foster a lively and engaging student life! Recently, we enjoyed the Silwood language exchange, where our diverse international community gathered to share languages and cultures over a few weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year event at the beginning of the year, where everyone united to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also hosted community-organized parties commemorating events from various cultures (like Carnival), or parties simply held for the joy of celebration.
Nonetheless, my favorite event on campus is undoubtedly the weekly pub quiz, orchestrated by our student community. It’s part of Silwood tradition that the losers of the pub quiz are tasked with organizing the next one, and I can proudly assert that I’ve set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite my frequent losses in pub quizzes due to my limited general knowledge, there’s always fun to be found with great company and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it is situated a 30-minute walk from the lively buzz of civilization (such as the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or lacking. Alongside the multitude of events and activities, we enjoy a friendly and inviting community filled with students from across the globe. We all share a passion for nature,