During the summer, the common wasp feeds on flies. In autumn it begins to feed on sugar-rich fruit such as blackberries. The wasp pierces the skin of thefruit to feed on the pulp within and, in doing so, makes this valuable food source accessible to other insects which follow such as flies.

Various insects such as Syrphus ribesii (a wasp-like hover-fly) mimic the appearance of the formidable wasp.