Written by Clarence (Singapore), MSc Living Planet focusing on Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation
When the majority of Imperial students envision Silwood Park, they picture a lush, enigmatic, and green campus bustling with wildlife and plants seldom found on other campuses such as South Kensington or White City. In many ways, they’re spot on—every image of Silwood Park is indeed true!
As a member of this lesser-known Imperial community, I wish to shed light on the student life, activities, and atmosphere at our natural parkland campus located in Ascot, Berkshire.
Presenting Silwood Park
Silwood Park acts as Imperial’s outdoor research facility, covering 77 hectares and incorporating environments like freshwater streams, lakes, an “ancient” forest, and open meadows. A brief search on iNaturalist, an app for cataloging and sharing global biodiversity observations within an online community of naturalists, indicates that 1,436 species of plants, animals, and fungi have been recorded on campus. Furthermore, eBird confirms that 111 bird species have been observed on campus so far.
Notably, Silwood Park is also the location for numerous long-standing field research initiatives, with the Nash’s Field Experiment and the Blue Tit Project being two of the more famous studies conducted on-site.
Student Experience at Silwood Park
The campus mainly accommodates postgraduate students involved in ecology, conservation, and evolution projects. Many of us engage in various clubs centered at Silwood Park. Noteworthy examples include:
- Chicken Club – tending to the chickens raised behind our residence halls
- Book Club – regularly convening to discuss books of interest
- Gardening Club – overseeing the plots in our community garden
- Conservation Club – coordinating nature walks and conservation initiatives for Silwood Park students.
As part of the broader Imperial student body, many of us also take part in the activities offered by clubs based in South Kensington!
Casually, we have clubs involved in sports like badminton, basketball, and pickleball (my personal favorite!), either at the multi-use games area (MUGA) on campus or at indoor sports facilities in nearby towns such as Bracknell or Ascot.
Apart from club activities and classes, various community-driven events take place on campus. Silwood Park has its own student council that organizes and supports such activities, ensuring a lively and engaging student life! Recently, we held the Silwood language exchange, where our international community shared languages and cultures over several weeks, along with our annual Chinese New Year celebration, when everyone came together to make dumplings and couplets for the new lunar year. We’ve also enjoyed community-organized parties celebrating global events (like Carnival) or simply for the love of festivity.
However, my favorite campus event is the weekly pub quiz, hosted by our student community. It’s a Silwood tradition that the pub quiz losers host the next one, and I can pride myself on having set the most pub quizzes this year. Despite often losing due to my lackluster general trivia knowledge, it’s always a blast with great company and a nice pint of beer.
Silwood Park: My Second Home
Even though it’s a 30-minute walk from the lively atmosphere of civilization (e.g., the train station and the closest village), life at Silwood Park has never felt monotonous or insufficient. Beyond the many events and activities, we have a warm and inviting community of students from various parts of the globe. We all appreciate nature, treasure our stunning campus grounds, and, more importantly, enjoy each other’s company. We’re a tight-knit community that loves stargazing in the winter chill on the open field adjacent to our bar, observing the birds and mammals that visit our windows, and spending time among fellow nature enthusiasts.
Most evenings, I cook with