Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many Imperial students envision Silwood Park, they picture a vibrant, enigmatic, and verdant campus brimming with flora and fauna rarely encountered at other locales like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every depiction of Silwood Park is accurate!
As a representative of this lesser-known enclave at Imperial, I wish to shed light on the student life, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus situated in Ascot, Berkshire.
Welcome to Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, encompassing 77 hectares and showcasing habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and open fields. A straightforward inquiry on iNaturalist, an application for documenting and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide within an online naturalist network, reveals that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. A deeper dive on eBird indicates that 111 bird species have been cataloged on campus to date.
Moreover, Silwood Park is the venue for numerous long-term field research initiatives, with Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more prominent studies conducted on-site.
Life as a Student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily accommodates postgraduate students focused on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us actively engage in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens raised behind our dormitories
- Book Club – convening regularly to discuss literary works of interest
- Gardening Club – overseeing the allotments within our community garden
- Conservation Club – organizing nature walks and conservation-oriented activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the larger Imperial student body, many of us also take part in activities of clubs based in South Kensington!
Informally, we also have clubs that partake in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), operating 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 enjoy numerous community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and facilitates such events to foster a lively and engaging student experience! Recently, we’ve hosted 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 united to prepare dumplings and couplets to celebrate the onset of the new lunar year. We’ve also held community-organized parties marking festivities from around the globe (such as Carnival) or gatherings just for the sheer joy of celebration.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, coordinated by our student body. It’s part of Silwood tradition that the quiz losers 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 continual defeats in pub quizzes due to my lack of general trivia knowledge, there’s always great enjoyment to be had with delightful company and a refreshing pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Although it is a 30-minute stroll from the lively atmosphere of civilization (e.g., the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never seemed dull or insufficient. In addition to the myriad events and activities, we have a friendly and inclusive community of students from across the globe. We all share a passion for nature, appreciate our stunning campus grounds, and, most importantly, cherish each other’s companionship. We’re a