Hibernation

The queen is asleep, one of around 1 000 to 2 000 from the nest, she hides in a dry crevice from as early as September to as late as the end of April the following spring. 

She carefully tucks away her legs, her delicate wings are folded and tucked safely under her abdomen. But in spite of her careful preparations, she will be very lucky to emerge next year, perhaps only one of a handful from the thousand. 

A warm winter, might lead to her waking too early, before food can be found and she will starve. More likely though, she will be consumed during the winter months. Those dark, dry crevices are an equally appealing draw for her eight-legged nemesis.

She might equally choose our wood store in which to hibernate. After collecting two barrow loads of fire wood today, I counted seven evicted queen wasps.