Shown on the right is male #33 perching one meter from the ground on a bush next to the Van Wickle Hall lek at Lafayette College in July of 1991. As did most other males which established a perch, male #33 would often leave the perch to patrol the lek (click to see it) a few centimeters off of the grass, pausing at intervals to investigate certain patches of grass; I presume he was searching for an emerging female wasp with which to mate. Males also frequently leave their perches to chase other males, other insects and, on one occasion, a house sparrow, which departed in full retreat with #33 hot on his tail. After such a chase, males always return to their perches and take up a typical pose while watching the lek. As Fabre noted, perching males will chase small stones, sticks or anything else which is thrown across the lek which they are patrolling. This link is to a movie of a male leaving his perch to chase another male and then returning.
Click on the picture to see a montage of male wasps perching on various things near their leks.
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