Insect Life cycles vary from species to species.

There are some general rules, however.

Many decide to “overwinter” as eggs – easy: no eating needed, no movement needed, which is handy as temperatures are low in winter and insect movement can only happen when temps are comfortable.

Remember: they are cold-blooded, so rely on external temps to get energy.

Other species decided a long time ago, that overwintering as pupae or chrysalis is the way to go.

Similar advantages: no movement no eating and slow development into adult life-stage.

Social species, such as Vespid wasps (German wasp/common wasp) and Paper wasps (Polistes species) play a totally different game: they hibernate as adult females, fertilised and all. We call them Queens.

Just before autumn turns into winter, the surviving fertile females from a colony mate with the males (drones) and, after a feed (often of carbo-hydrates, sugars!) they will look for a suitable place to hibernate.

Anything will do, really, as long as it’s out of the severe frost and preferably dark and safe.

Of course, in spring when temperatures become a little more agreeable, the queens will leave the hibernation spot and try locate some sustenance in the form of early-flowering plants with nectar.

This will start the early-season cycle off. Finding a nest site and starting a brand-new nest is the very first priority.

But before it gets that far, we’re stuck with them in winter and often on or near the house. Look for hibernating queens in window cavities, in the grouting of bricks, indeed any nook or cranny will do.

But as I found out a week or so ago: stored and stacked firewood is one of the best places for the queen wasps. As soon as you fill the basket near the Ultra-Low Emissions Burner, the blighters believe that spring has sprung and it’s time to move on the the next phase of the wasp life-cycle.