Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet focusing on Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students picture Silwood Park, they see a verdant, enchanting, and green campus abundant with wildlife and plants rarely found on other campuses such as South Kensington or White City. In numerous respects, they’re correct – every depiction of Silwood Park is accurate!
As a member of this lesser-known enclave within Imperial, I wish to emphasize the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
A glimpse of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s open-air laboratory, covering 77 hectares and featuring ecosystems like freshwater streams, ponds, an “ancient” forest, and expansive grasslands. A brief search on iNaturalist, an application for cataloging and exchanging biodiversity observations globally within a network of naturalists, reveals 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 logged on campus to date.
Notably, Silwood Park hosts numerous long-term field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project among the more recognized studies conducted on the premises.
Life as a student at Silwood Park
The campus primarily hosts postgraduate students passionate about ecology, conservation, and evolutionary projects. Many of us engage in various clubs located at Silwood Park. Key examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for the care of chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – who frequently meet to deliberate over intriguing literature
- Gardening Club – managing the community garden’s allotments
- Conservation Club – hosting nature walks and conservation-oriented activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also take part in activities from clubs based in South Kensington!
Casually, we have clubs that participate in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), taking place 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 enjoy numerous community-driven events on campus. Silwood Park features its own student council that organizes and oversees these activities, ensuring a dynamic and engaging student life! Recently, we hosted the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community united to share languages and cultures over several weeks, and we celebrated our annual Chinese New Year at the beginning of the year, where everyone came together to create dumplings and couplets to usher in the new lunar year. We’ve also hosted community-organized parties celebrating various global events (like Carnival), or gatherings simply for the joy of socializing.
However, my favorite campus event remains the weekly pub quiz, coordinated by our student community. It’s a tradition at Silwood that the quiz’s losers are obliged to host the next one, and I can proudly state that I’ve set the highest number of pub quizzes this year. Even though I’ve lost many pub quizzes due to my limited general trivia knowledge, there’s always fantastic enjoyment to be had with great company and a refreshing beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Although 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 seemed mundane or deficient. In addition to the multitude of events and activities, we have a friendly and inviting community made up of students from all corners of the globe. We all appreciate nature, cherish our stunning campus grounds, and, more importantly, value each other’s presence. We’re a tight-knit