Authored by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet with Ecology, Evolution and Conservation
When many Imperial students imagine Silwood Park, they picture a verdant, enigmatic, and green campus full of wildlife and plants seldom found at other locations like South Kensington or White City. In many respects, they are correct – every representation of Silwood Park is accurate!
As a member of this lesser-known faction at Imperial, I wish to showcase the student experience, activities, and community at our natural parkland campus in Ascot, Berkshire.
An overview of Silwood Park
Silwood Park serves as Imperial’s outdoor laboratory, encompassing 77 hectares and hosting habitats such as freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and open grasslands. A quick browse on iNaturalist, an app for documenting and sharing biodiversity observations with a global network of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. A subsequent search on eBird reveals that 111 bird species have been documented here to date.
Additionally, Silwood Park hosts numerous long-term field research projects, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being among the more prominent initiatives conducted on location.
Student experience at Silwood Park
The campus mainly accommodates postgraduate students focused on projects related to ecology, conservation, and evolution. Most of us belong to various clubs based at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – responsible for caring for the chickens located behind our halls of residence
- Book Club – meet regularly to discuss books from their reading list
- Gardening Club – oversee the allotments in our community garden
- Conservation Club – organizes nature walks and conservation-related activities for students on Silwood Park Campus.
As part of the broader Imperial student community, many of us also engage in activities of clubs located in South Kensington!
Additionally, we have informal clubs that participate in sports such as badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), utilizing either the multi-use games arena (MUGA) on campus or indoor sports facilities in nearby towns like Bracknell or Ascot.
Alongside club activities and classes, we host numerous community-led events on campus. Silwood Park features its own student council that plans and facilitates activities to ensure we enjoy a vibrant and engaging student life! In recent months, we’ve had the Silwood language exchange, where our predominantly international community gathered to share languages and cultures over several weeks. We also celebrated our annual Chinese New Year event at the start of the year, where everyone came together to prepare dumplings and couplets to welcome the new lunar year. Community-organized parties have also commemorated various global celebrations (like Carnival) or simply revel in the joy of gatherings.
However, my favorite campus activity has to be the weekly pub quiz, organized by our student community. A part of Silwood culture is that those who lose the pub quiz are responsible for hosting the next one, and I can proudly state that I hold the record for the most pub quizzes organized this year. Despite failing to win many of these quizzes due to my limited general knowledge, there is always good fun to be had with excellent company and a fine pint of beer.
Silwood Park: my second home
Even though it’s just a 30-minute walk from the lively buzz 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 enjoy a friendly and inviting community made up of students from around the globe. We all share a passion for nature and admire our stunning campus grounds, and