I was mostly looking for spittlebugs today, hoping to see the females laying eggs into the plant stems. The eggs will overwinter and in spring, out come the nymphs who will immediately begin to chew away at plant stems both for food and to produce the "spittle" we see on plants. The spittle is
actually the excess plant juice excreted out the back end from where it rolls down over the little guy and creates a "nest case" of sorts where it can happily spend its time through several moults until ready to emerge as an adult. I think the spittle "cases" are extraordinarily beautiful. By the way, meadow spittlebugs vary considerably in their colour and pattern.