Wallonia, Belgium, today.
I stumbled upon a plant covered with small bundles of aphids, and sure enough, upon closer inspection, it had a whole aphid farming operation going on, and ladybugs had found it.
The ant tried blocking the way but fell off. Hopefully it’s okay somewhere. The aphids, unfortunately, will not be.
I think the aphids are about to have a much worse day!
Funny relationship between ants, aphids, and lady bugs. The ants eat the residue that aphids make, so they like to keep the aphids around. The lady bugs eat aphids. Otherwise ants and lady bugs don’t care about each other - neither eats the other. A lady but will usually ignore a solitary ant, but they’ll take off if there’s a bunch, because the ants will protect the aphids.