You may have noticed that wasps seem to disappear the closer we get to winter. By the time it’s freezing cold outside, they are nowhere to be found. But what has happened to these pests once summer comes to an end? The answer involved a mixture of interesting wasp facts. You see, there’s a fairly complicated set of circumstances that happen to wasps in autumn. The bulk of the colony do not hibernate, but their numbers don’t die off completely either. What actually happens is that wasps begin to prepare themselves for winter in a special way.
Wasps in autumn: a look behind the scenes
In essence, the nest starts to wind down in autumn as the colony prepare for the end of their yearly cycle. In terms of the general population, the previous generation of male wasps, or drones, will have already died off once they fertilised the existing Queen’s eggs. Around autumn time, female worker wasps stop being produced, and gradually these wasps begin to die off too. Along with this – once she has laid special eggs that will produce new young Queen wasps – the old Queen also dies.
Having been tended to by the workers, the new Queens emerge, along with a new generation of drones. They then leave it to find a safe place to hide through the cold months ahead. You would think that one of them might stay in the nest, but this isn’t the case. Wasp nests only last for one season and are abandoned after the summer. Instead, each new Queen flies far away, mates with a drone from a different colony, and finds a place where she can hibernate. Sometimes Queen wasps enter our homes and hibernate there.
What’s sad is that many of these Queens do not survive the winter. The majority of them are eaten by predators while hibernating. The most common of these predators are actually spiders. Once spring arrives, each surviving Queen finds a place to begin a new colony. Generally, wasps do not return to an old nest or choose the same location.
What autumnal behaviour changes can you expect?
As food stores run low, and available food sources become more scarce, worker wasps can become more of a nuisance in autumn. They can become disorientated, and noticeably more. aggressive. Remember, wasps are not like bees. They can sting you multiple times and are also far more feisty than bees. This is why many people end up in the hospital after being stung by wasps.
But what should you do if you’re dealing with wasps in autumn and find a nest? They will bcome empty soon enough, but if workers are still at large they will be fiercely protective of the new Queens they are nurturing. Many people attempt to remove a wasp nest by knocking it down, or burning it, or attacking the wasps with insect spray. This only makes the wasps angry, and, if this happens, they can easily turn on you.
This is also why it’s a far better idea to contact your local pest control company. We have the skills and knowledge needed to deal with wasp control in London at any time of the year. This includes equipping our technicians with the necessary PPE to protect against their attacks.