Written 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 bustling with wildlife and plants that are not often found on our other campuses like South Kensington or White City. In many ways, they are right – every image evoked of Silwood Park is true!
As a representative of this lesser-known community within Imperial, I wish to spotlight the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
Welcome to Silwood Park
Silwood Park functions as Imperial’s outdoor research site, covering 77 hectares and featuring environments like freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and open fields. A brief inquiry on iNaturalist, an application for documenting and sharing biodiversity observations worldwide among a community of naturalists, shows that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus, and an additional probe on eBird indicates that 111 species of birds have been noted on campus to date.
Moreover, Silwood Park is the venue for various long-term field studies, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more prominent initiatives conducted here.
Campus Life at Silwood Park
The campus mainly caters to postgraduate scholars interested in projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Many of us belong to several clubs based at Silwood Park. Key examples include:
- Chicken Club – caretakers for the chickens raised behind our student accommodation
- Book Club – regular meetups to discuss literature from their reading list
- Gardening Club – overseers of the community garden’s allotments
- Conservation Club – coordinators of nature walks and conservation-oriented activities for students at Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us are also active members in clubs based in South Kensington too!
Informally, we have clubs participating in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), occurring either on the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Apart from club activities and classes, we host various community-led events on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and facilitates these events to promote a lively and engaging student experience! Recently, we hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community united to share languages and cultures over several weeks, and we also welcomed the new lunar year with our annual Chinese New Year celebration, making dumplings and couplets. We’ve also enjoyed community-organized parties that celebrate global occasions (like Carnival) or simply for the joy of gathering.
However, my favorite campus event has to be the weekly pub quiz, orchestrated by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the losers of the pub quiz must host the next one, and I can proudly state that I have set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Despite losing countless quizzes due to my limited general knowledge, there’s always great fun with wonderful friends and a refreshing pint of beer.
Silwood Park: My Sanctuary Away from Home
Even though it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively atmosphere of civilization (like the train station and the nearest village), life at Silwood Park has never been dull or insufficient. In addition to the numerous events and activities, we have a friendly and inclusive community made up of students from around the globe. We all cherish nature, value our stunning campus grounds, and, more importantly, relish each other’s company. We’re a tight-knit group that enjoys stargazing in the chilly winter nights.