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  Simon Smith May 2, 2012 at 8:06pm

  Looks like red thread, Its a fungal disease but I don't know a lot about it though sorry. I'm sure someone more helpful will sort you out soon.
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  andy @Doughty Garden Maintenance May 2, 2012 at 8:08pm

  Thanks Simon, It does actually look like red cotton, so you could be right!  :-)
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  Phil Voice May 2, 2012 at 8:09pm

  Yes, it's red thread ( Laetisaria fuciformis). Not a huge problem.

  A good dose of nitrogen will sort it out.
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  andy @Doughty Garden Maintenance May 2, 2012 at 8:14pm

  Yes Thanks Phil and Simon, just had a read up about it.

  Thanks for that, a quickly solved question :-)
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  Colin Hunt May 2, 2012 at 8:48pm

  I also noticed a few patches today, put it down to the persistent rain washing out the Nitrogen as we treated our lawns 5 weeks ago when it was warm and everything wanted to grow!
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  Phil Voice May 2, 2012 at 8:53pm

  Sorry Andy...my response was a bit cavalier:) When I said a good dose of Nitrogen I should have added a caveat. 

  As I'm sure you are aware, there's still a chance of sharp frosts (although diminishing) so a nitrogen flush from sulphate of ammonia, for example, might prove counter productive if the fresh soft growth spurt is hit by low temperatures.

  A controlled release nitrogen is safer.

  
  andy@ Doughty Garden Maintenance said:

  Yes Thanks Phil and Simon, just had a read up about it.

  Thanks for that, a quickly solved question :-)
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  andy @Doughty Garden Maintenance May 2, 2012 at 9:09pm

  ok phil thanks for that :-)

  (the use of the word "cavalier" made me laugh :-D will have to use that more lol)
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  Bespoke Lawncare May 2, 2012 at 11:24pm

  You can carry the fungus from a infected lawn to a uninfected lawn via boots, lawn mower or spreader so try to avoid contact, it will usually grow out if left alone for a couple of weeks. 
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  David Benson May 2, 2012 at 11:42pm

  as already said red thread, lawn fungicide will also do the trick
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  Jim Davidson May 4, 2012 at 8:43pm

  Andrew - now that you've seen it once you'll see it all the time !

  The stuff in your picture looks particularly virulant. Most times when I see it its not quite so vibrant but if you pull up a few blades of affected grass you'll see the tiny red hairs and/or the pink cotton wool like buds.

  Watch out for it in the next couple of weeks because if we hit a warm spell the stuff is going to explode.