Recently, I was sat quietly at home, working away, when I heard some odd noises coming from outside. Noises I'd not heard before. Noises that were definitely odd. I went off to investigate and came face-to-face with Chuck.

I have to be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what Chuck was at first, but with the aid of the Google and some local information from a friend, it turns out that Chuck's a woodchuck. Those in the USA, particularly in the New York region, may have "God dang woodchucks, quit chucking my wood" ringing through their minds right now, from the Geico commercial featuring the creatures.

The woodchuck (Marmota monax) is also known as a groundhog, which was perhaps made most famous internationally by the Bill Murray film Groundhog Day, although US readers don't need Hollywood to remind them of the event held each year in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on February 2. It's a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. They can be found as far north as Alaska, with their habitat extending southeast to Georgia.

So, Chuck kind of waddled into our yard and helped himself to a spot of lunch, namely our sole floret of cauliflower we had our eyes on to use for dinner. Not only did he eat the floret, he continued to chomp down on the entire stalk - not my favorite part of cauliflower, so considering he'd already devoured the good part at that point, he was welcome to the rest.

 
 

So, that's Chuck. Apart from him eating our vegetables, we like him and if he returns we'll be sure to give you an update. As always, if you haven't signed up for our free email updates, you can do so in the bottom right of every page. By signing up, you'll receive occasional updates and extra stuff from In The Wild Photography via email. Or use our RSS feed to be notified of new blog posts - check here for details.

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