Humongous ant farm on artichoke plant

I've decided to leave the and farm be on my ancient artichoke. I only grow it for foliage and the odd flower so it's not really a problem.
There's rows and rows of black aphids - all seem to be equidistant - very neat and tidy.
What surprises me is that the sparrows don't touch them. There's at least two large flocks nearby.

 

These little boys will get rid of the aphids for you.


Last couple of years I've located these (unfortunately Harlequin ) ladybird grubs on the apple trees. I relocated them to the chilly plant inside and after a few days they were three times the size and aphids gone. I have ordered native grubs before, but at around £20 a pop, you don't get many as they say as I'm guessing they send them out as eggs and a lot don't hatch or die in transit. I've also found a neem spray works after a few weeks. Get rid of the food and I've found the ants leave my artichoke alone.

 

I'm not going to destroy the farm this year. I'm interested to see what happens.
The plant is probably 20 years old and well able to look after itself.
Will cut it down to the ankles early autumn and it will be sprouting again by November.

 

We also get black fly and ants on our artichokes but thankfully they don't seem to cause too much of a problem. When we cut them for eating I put them in a bowl of salted water outside so that any ants that want to can crawl away but the blackfly have to take their chance I'm afraid.