Fungus in lawn - help!

[Piffpaffpoff]

In my back garden, the grass has developed a kind of fungal growth. It's not like actual mushrooms (although we get a few of them too) it's more like crinkly light brown potato peel, growing within the grass, over a wide area. The lawn gets sun from about lunchtime onwards in summer, but is in the shade most of winter. I'm in Scotland so the winter is cold and damp.

What, if anything can I do to get rid of this? I have been raking the lawn using a scarifier (spelling? Sorry!) but I am starting to suspect this has done more harm than good by spreading it. I am completely clueless so any advice welcomed!

These sites might give a clue, or you can search for more sites yourself:

www.freshturf.co.uk/lawn-disease.html

www.lawnsmith.co.uk/topic/pests-diseases

www.msuturfdiseases.net/browse-by-name/

I think it might be some sort of lichen - you will need to improve drainage by spiking the lawn, then apply moss-killer, and fertilise the lawn as well. Are you in a soft water area as if the soil is particularly acidic that won't be helping either.

Oooh, it's liverwort! Thanks Ferguson for those site links which led to identification. I shall Google further for treatment ideas. Thanks for the replies, much appreciated!

Looking at your photo Piff you've got a lot of moss in the lawn.

That's the identifying picture off the website wow thankfully mine is much less mossy.

So, it looks like I'm going to be spiking, top dressing with sand which will hopefully go down the holes to improve the drainage and autumn feeding with something containing a specific ingredient that I can't remember right now (but I have written down). I have a plan. I like a good plan. Thanks for the help!!

Liverwort can spread everywhere, and can be difficult to get rid of. We have it in some of our borders, and I think it came in on a plant from a nursery.

So when buying plants, scrutinise them as closely as you can.

We have that in our lawn - it is called dog lichen. We can keep it under control by scarifying and using moss killer on the lawn.