Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When most students from Imperial picture Silwood Park, they see a flourishing, intriguing, and verdant campus brimming with wildlife and vegetation not typically found at other sites 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 community within Imperial, I want to showcase the student experience, engagements, and camaraderie at our natural parkland venue in Ascot, Berkshire.
Introducing Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, encompassing 77 hectares and boasting habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” woodland, and expansive grasslands. A quick search on iNaturalist, an application where users can document and share biodiversity observations globally with a social network of naturalists, reveals that a total of 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on our campus, with a further investigation on eBird identifying 111 bird species documented here so far.
More intriguingly, Silwood Park is also the location for numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more recognized studies conducted on-site.
Student Experience at Silwood Park
The campus predominantly hosts postgraduate students focused on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us engage in various clubs based at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens raised behind our accommodation
- Book Club – who meet regularly to discuss notable books from 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.
As part of the larger Imperial student body, many of us are also active participants in clubs based in South Kensington!
Informally, we also have groups that partake in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), which are held either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Aside from club activities and academic lessons, we host several community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and facilitates various activities to maintain a lively and engaging student life! Recently, we organized the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community united to share our languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year gathering at the start of the year, where everyone collaborated to make dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. We’ve also enjoyed community-hosted parties celebrating global events (like Carnival), or parties simply held for the joy of socializing.
However, my favorite campus event undoubtedly has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. It’s a staple of Silwood culture that the quiz losers must organize the next one, and I can proudly say I’ve set the most pub quizzes this year. While I’ve lost many pub quizzes due to my limited general trivia knowledge, there’s always great enjoyment to be found with wonderful company and a good pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively hustle of civilization (like the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never felt dull or insufficient. In addition to the myriad of events and activities, we have