The Dick Dent Bird Sanctuary is located in a natural wetland populated with waterfowl, migrant waders and Ethiopian snipe. The Somerset West Bird Club helps to look after the sanctuary, together with a conservator who manages the Lourens River, Dick Dent and Harmony Flats Reserves for the City of Cape Town.
The sanctuary was formerly a wastewater treatment works located close to the Lourens River estuary. Today the 10ha (25 acre) site has become a natural wetland that is home to many coastal and wading birds, and it enjoys conservation status as part of the Lourens River Protected Natural Environments.
The Western Cape province has the greatest diversity of alien bird species in South Africa. Of these, the mute swan has become locally extinct, apart from a single wandering bird that is spotted on occasion at Dick Dent.
