Carymarsh Nature Reserve

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Carymarsh Nature Reserve A photographic history of the evolution of the reserve A wetland area is 5 ha in size.

Orchard Farm has been farmed by the Boyer family since 1928, the current residents being the third generation. With the decline of agriculture over the past decades much of the land is less intensively farmed than in the past and wildlife, including roe deer, badgers, foxes and many species of wild birds, is increasing. While Orchard Farm is still an active and high-producing farm, we have tried to improve the natural environment. As part of this we have taken a low-producing area out of the production and created Carymarsh Nature Reserve. A series of ponds and reedbeds have been created by diverting a small brook through the field, providing a wide range of wetland habitats, similar to the types of habitats that would have occurred in this area many centuries ago, prior to the onset of intensive agriculture. Adjacent to this we have planted a broadleaved woodland with 2.7 ha of native trees and shrubs, surrounded by rides of rough tussocky grasses (0.3 ha) and an area that is planted each year to provide winter bird-seed (0.9 ha). The reserve is criss-crossed with footpaths for the use of the local community of Castle Cary and the surrounding villages.

18/08/2026
HIMALAYAN BALSAM Well done to everyone involved in clearing the Himalayan balsam from the upper section of the River Car...
18/08/2026

HIMALAYAN BALSAM
Well done to everyone involved in clearing the Himalayan balsam from the upper section of the River Cary from Fulford Cross to its source on Lodge Hill.
Thanks to all the residents who live along this stretch of the Cary for removing this plant from their gardens or, if not able to, for allowing volunteers to do it, the Newt for controlling the infestation around Park Pond, and most especially the volunteers who spent many hours pulling plants out, mostly in difficult conditions - thickets of brambles and nettles, steep slopes and deep mud.
Himalayan balsam is an invasive alien plant that dominates riversides, suppressing native wild flowers. It dies in winter leaving bare earth banks which are liable to erosion and subsequently flooding.
It is rampant in most of Somerset’s rivers, apart from the upper R Cary.
This is the second year that we have removed the HB as far downstream as Lovington. The plan is to continue to deplete the seed bank ensuring that our river will remain clear of this insidious plant in the future.

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Orchard Farm
Castle Cary

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