Spittal Pond Nature Reserve is the largest wildlife sanctuary in Bermuda, located close to the Atlantic coast of Smith's Parish.

Ostensibly fresh water, with no connection to the nearby Atlantic, the pond is in fact brackish as the ocean can inundate the lake during severe storms.

A very thin line of small hillocks separate the pond from the ocean and there are also three low lands through which waves flood the lake during hurricanes.

In such circumstances, parts of the lake can become discoloured and malodorous due to the work of sulphur-producing bacteria which thrive in brackish conditions.

[9] Initially, in the early part of the 20th century, this reserve was made up of 10 blocks of private land, oriented in a north to south direction.

In 1946, Dr. Henry Wilkinson, medical doctor, historian, and the founder of the Bermuda Historical Monuments Trust, who owned part of this land (about 4.5 acres), converted his holdings into a reserve, adjoining the Spittal Pond Bird Sanctuary.

Inscriptions have been interpreted as along with other markings "RP" (abbreviated version of Rex Portugaliae, King of Portugal) and a cross denoting the Portuguese Order of Christ.

[1][10] In view of its varied habitats and rich wildlife, particularly wintering waterfowl, the Spittal Pond and vicinity was declared a Wetland of International Importance, a Ramsar Site, in 1999.

[9] Many of the endemic plants and trees that once lived here, especially the Bermuda cedar (Juniperus bermudiana) have been killed off by introduced species, such as the Mexican pepper (Schinus terebinthifolius), Australian whistling-pine (Casuarina equisetifolia), fiddlewood (Citharexylum spinosum), Chinese fan palm (Livistona chinensis), and asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus).

[7] There are mangrove swamps, salt marsh (created by flooding of the pond by the sea during storms), and also large areas of woodland.

Shrubs found here are mostly lantana, Spanish bayonet (Yucca aloifolia) and fluorescent green flopper (Kalanchoe pinnata).

[5] Other wildlife found in Spittal Pond Nature Reserve include the Bermuda rock skink (Plestiodon longirostris), a critically endangered species,[13] silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans),[14] Sally Lightfoot crab and buckeye (butterfly) (Junonia coenia).