Nature in the City

  • Nature in the City

    Nature in the City | George Mitchell Nature Preserve

    Last weekend I was coming down with a bit of nature deficit and needed to get outside a bit. Weeks and weekends have been going by in a blur lately and with Chris in the field we haven’t been camping much. It has made me realize how much I miss being outside. I had an errand to run over in The Woodlands so I decided to drop by the George Mitchell Nature Preserve. The Preserve is located smack-dab in the middle of suburbia and if you aren’t careful you will drive right past the sign for the turn into the parking area. I did and had to turn around. The…

  • Nature in the City

    Nature in the City | Cross Timbers Park

    I wanted to get out for a walk a few weekends ago and the closest natural area that I knew of was Cross Timbers Park in the same park as Adventure World. For those in the North Richland Hills/Northeast Tarrant County this area you might be familiar to you. I’ve been to a few times in the past while geocaching and I think my brother might have done/helped an Eagle Scout project there. If you need a nature fix, this is a great place with some trails that let you experience it. It was much too hot for wildlife, so we didn’t see anything, not even a snake! And the…

  • Hiking,  Nature in the City,  Outdoors

    Nature in the City: Spring Creek Forest Preserve

    I’ve been digging around to find natural areas in the DFW Metroplex in order to explore some of these areas a bit more. Several months ago I’d bookmarked Spring Creek Forest Preserve in north Garland as an option to see. Finally on Tuesday we made our way out there. Turns out it is very close to my in-laws house and close to a Freebirds, so it was perfect! There are two entrances on each side of Holford Rd, a two lane country road that you would have seen in this area even 5 years ago, but now most of them are spreading out to four lane and being colonized with…

  • Hiking,  Nature in the City,  Outdoors

    Nature in the City: Bob Jones Nature Center

    I found out about the Bob Jones Nature Center in Southlake, TX from my friend Amanda. It’s among the many nature areas that line Grapevine Lake. On Monday evening I felt the need to take some photos and get out in nature some so Chris and I drove up to the preserve. It was deserted except for what appeared to be a staff or volunteer car next to the education building. We set off down the trails to the east and behind the education building not sure where we would end up. I initially didn’t take too many photos when I remembered that I could do a Nature in the…

  • Nature in the City,  Outdoors,  Photography,  Texas

    Nature in the City: Trinity River Audubon

    On our last break we took a visit to the Trinity River Audubon south of Dallas. Not much was going on in the way of wildlife, but it was still a beautiful place to visit. I had no idea the place even existed until a few months ago. It was cold and windy the day we were there so the wildlife was probably hiding as well. I am sure migratory birds enjoy a nice stopover here. Now some photos: The education center. It hosts an area for school groups to eat lunch, nice restrooms, and great exhibits, including a hands on build your own river exhibit. Pretty cool! Near the…

  • Nature in the City,  Texas

    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…

  • Nature in the City

    Nature in the City: Katie’s Woods

    Katie’s Woods Park After visiting the Trophy Club Park we drove around Lake Grapevine and saw a sign for Katie’s Woods. We decided to take a peek. Snakes??? Sweet! Too bad we didn’t see any. I spotted this flower to take a shot when I noticed the little friend underneath the petal there on the right. I moved the flower ’round and ’round to get some shots of what I believe to be Misumenops celer. I loved this little purple flower, thinking it was a violet, but the rest of the plant is distinctively non-violet. Any ideas? We took the trails alongside the lake. Several fishermen were hoping to catch…

  • Nature in the City

    Nature in the City: Trophy Club Park

    Trophy Club Park at Lake Grapevine Sunday morning we went for a hike and picture adventure at Trophy Club Park. There is a fee and all of that information is in the link above. We had a nice hike, though we had to share the trails with off road vehicles. We chose to start off in the far parking lot, C, and walk along the lake. We stopped to take a look at some bugs. I narrowed this one down to the leaf footed bug family, Family Coreidae. Some bug eyes…. Another one munching on a flower. The light was gorgeous coming from the east through the grasses that are…

  • Nature in the City

    Nature in the City: Maxwell Creek Linear Park

    Getting a little nature while in the city is important. Sometimes it is hard to get farther out, into the woods and surrounded by quiet. So, after work you head out to the closest green space possible. Right near where Chris’ mom and step-dad live is a bike path and Maxwell Creek Linear Park. If you go off trail and down to the creek you can find some beautiful little things. Oh, watch for the gigantic poison ivy! The signs of Fall are slowly showing up. If the light was better I would have tried to get a reverse macro on this Osage orange, Maclura pomifera. Textures in the running…