Ants: what’s going on here?

[Sergeant Pluck]

These are two not very good images of a couple of tips of branches of a plant in my garden. On one or two of these tips, where buds are just sprouting, ants have climbed about 4 feet up:





What are they doing? Are those ant eggs?

[Ruth]

Those are aphids.  The ants are sucking all the nice sweet stuff off your aphids.

[bumper]

Farming.

They'll move the bloody things onto other plants too.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Thanks Strange - why are the aphids only on a couple of places on the plant? Or are they only getting started?

Edited: I been done Googled it. Farming eh? Clever b’stards.

[Chris N]

It's good, innit?  Except when they're doing it on your broad beans and strawberries.  Lots of ladybirds in our garden this year, so that should keep the aphids down a bit.

[bumper]

I've been exterminating ants for a couple of weeks now. I've got at least 6 nests in the back garden, with a few off shoot colonies. They're a bugger when they're in your pots and ruining roots of trees. They also empty the garden of all life except aphids. I used to love watching them but they've gone crazy, they're building the extension tube tunnels for the flyers now too.