Nature in the City: Tandy Hills Natural Area

Ah, Tandy Hills, a wooded oasis in the middle of the Meadowbrook neighborhood and the not-so-nice area of the east Ft. Worth Lancaster area. I am still in wonder of how I never knew this place existed until last March and I grew up driving right by the place just about every other Sunday when we went to visit my grandmother for Sunday lunch. If you haven’t been here I highly recommend it. There are lots of trails to walk about, the area is very hilly and there is even a playground for kids. We did see what appeared to be a homeless persons camp so you might want to take at least one other person with you or some dogs. Chris went back by himself so it isn’t unsafe or anything, but just be aware of your surroundings.

This time we went in off of where the address for the park is located instead of the back street we went in on previously. Lots of fall grasses to wade through.

Not too far in we spotted an antelope horn milkweed, Asclepias asperula. I had never seen this variety before and it is very cool!

An unidentified bug was crawling around inside, no monarchs to be seen.

Do you know how hard ants are to photograph? Practically impossible! But, I lucked out with this one shot out of probably 8. It isn’t perfect, but I think it is pretty awesome to look at.

Down the hill a bit…

Sweet, a green lynx spider, Peucetia viridans chilling on a sunflower!

I had my reverse lens mount on for this shot and when I zoomed all the way out I liked how it created the border around it, similar to what many people do in Photoshop these days. Plus, the sunstars…awesome!

I’m not sure what this is, I can’t find it in my wildflower book.

Closeup of the previous photo. Loving the green and purple combination.

I enjoy that there are hills in this park and that it isn’t completely flat.

More seed heads. I think they are sometimes more beautiful than the flower, or at least more intricate.

You can see little bits of fall peeking through in the background.

One of the more level areas of the park.

I love that there are so many varieties and species of sunflowers and that fall seems to be a big blooming time for them. There is an eruption of yellow on the sides of the road and in all the parks.

I think this is from a lily of some sort, but not sure what kind or what blooms in the preserve.

Don’t forget to look up sometimes, you never know what you might see.

I highly recommend going to this preserve! You would never think that something like this existed in the middle of Ft. Worth, but this place has several species of ground orchids, trout lilies and many other rare, native plants. Go exploring!