RESIDENTS living near a showpiece nature trail pond at Bridport say it has become a dirty disgrace.

Empty beer cans, bottles and even a rusting food trolley have been thrown into Allington Pond which runs alongside the Brit Valley Way.

This week soaring temperatures reduced the water level to almost zero, exposing even more rubbish in the mud.

Vandals had set light to one of several carved wooden tree sculptures on the bank - leaving it a black charred mess.

"This so-called beautiful pond is not beautiful any more," said Rosemary Chester, from Court Orchard, one of a number of nearby residents calling for a clean-up.

"It's a waste of good land and taxpayers' money if it's left to rot. It would look nicer if it was looked after so people could walk there and look," she said.

The man-made pond, with boardwalk, seat and viewing platform for pond life studies was created as part of the Brit Valley Way in 1976, partly in conjunction with the local flood alleviation scheme. Jenny Penney of the Dorset Rangers service, who helped set up the nature trail, said they were aware of rubbish being dumped in the pond.

She said the irony was that some of the young people now throwing beer cans and other litter into the waterway may have been members of local school groups who helped create the area.

She said resources meant they could only clean up the pond at certain intervals when helpers were available.

In the meantime she said the long-term answer was to educate youngsters to appreciate their surroundings.

"We need to get people out walking the area - then perhaps they would not throw cans in," she said.

"It's not just a litter problem - the wildlife is affected, too, like snails which crawl in and get trapped."

She deplored the destruction of the "frog" tree sculpture beside the pond which was made by local carver Mark Vyvyan-Penney.

But she promised residents the area had not been forgotten by her department - and the work to clean up the pond would be done as soon as possible.