I think I hear something chewing in the logs in my pile of fireplace wood. Could that be realor just my imagination running wild?
You are probably hearing the sounds that beetles of the family Ptinidae make in their burrows in dry or decaying wood or other vegetable matter. One of these is the deathwatch beetle, which got its name by infesting untreated, dried wood used in house construction and could be heard when things were quiet as in a sick room or wake. Promptly burn any wood you bring into the house; do not store these logs indoors.