Plans have been submitted to spruce up some of the Island's nature reserves.

Both the Bermuda Audubon Society and the Bermuda National Trust have applied for Planning permission to make the wonders of nature more accessible to the general public.

The Audubon Society wants to restore the pond at Seymour Farm Nature Reserve in Southampton, while the Bermuda National Trust is to install gates at Warwick Pond Nature Reserve and Warwick Pond South, to prevent bikes from gaining access along the walking paths.

The Audubon Society says that before acquiring the nature reserve, one-third of the eastern end of Seymour's Pond was filled with garbage from a local parish dump and talus from a nearby quarry.

In a letter to Planning, David Wingate, for the Society, says: "The gradual process of eutrophication has resulted in a reduction of the open water area by encroachment of peat build-up and in-growth of sheathed paspalum grass."

The removal of the peat and grass will therefore widen the pond edge. The Society also wants to 're-excavate' the pond to remove the garbage, leaving a central island for waterfowl to nest on. This excavated material will then be used to backfill an old quarry to create the original contour of the hill, and also a graded embankment before the retaining wall on the roadside.

At Warwick Pond Nature Reserve, the National Trust wants to link its walking paths to the existing, but disused trails, at Warwick Pond South.

"The intent is to create an interlinked network of trails between the two reserves," says chartered surveyor Tedd Gauntlett.

The gates will be of the same design as at other National Trust reserves. Two gates will lead into Warwick Pond South while a third gate will lead from Warwick Pond to the Railway Trail.

"The gates are essential to the maintenance and conservation of the reserve, as without some form of restriction at the entrance of the pathway, it is probable that visitors to the reserve will bring bikes and attempt to ride them along the path, damaging it as well as risking injury to themselves and other visitors," Mr. Gauntlett said.