Anguilla's beautiful Salt Ponds are located near the coasts in most circumstances but a few, especially in the Eastern half of the island, are a fair distance inland. They are shallow estuarine ecosystems of varying sizes.  They are the habitat for a variety of tropical birds and are ideal areas for bird-watching. The ponds are typically high in salinity and salt mining in Road Pond-Sandy Ground in particular,  once formed the back bone of Anguilla's economy. Bird Watching  The ponds are home to several birds, both migratory and residential. In our nature pages you'll find features on Black-necked Stilts, Willets, Pintail Ducks, Snowy Egrets, Great Egrets and Herons found on these ponds.  Ponds also  serve a protective role against floods and are a habitat to a variety of animal and plant life.  The East End pond is one of  the two beautiful ponds that sandwich the village of Pond Ground. About 25% of this pond was inexplicably filled with earth during the 1980's. Today the pond has been designated as a protected wetland and is a location for official bird watching. Considering the role of these   reservoirs in preventing floods its perhaps not surprising that the area now has street flooding with a tropical downpour and experienced catastrophic flooding in 1999 when Hurricane Lenny hit the island. This flood temporarily displaced residents and swamped surrounding homes.  These photos show the same two homes, the first on a typical day and the second when they were completely flooded.  The  building in the back ground is the current location of Heritage Museum.

Pan West End Stilt Chorus Pond Crabs Meads Cove Long Pond Caul's Pond Bad Cox Rendezvous