What is this?

[piscatus absentis]

Out for a ramble this morning and came across this stuff.  Spread out across an area about 100 by 50 yards. At first I thought it was cotton wool but when I picked some of it up I noted it was short filaments each around 2 inches long.  It was spread over too large an area to be some kind of discarded material and was clinging to the grass.

Some kind of fungus?  It was a cold morning with frost on the ground.

[alancrob]

I saw patches of that near Dunkeld last weekend. Looked a bit like the white roots of the grass coming out of the ground?

Alan

[Malcolm]

PA

I think it's snow mold, we had it on our cricket pitch about 20 odd years ago. The conditions have been just right for it lately!

Malcolm

[Harpo]

Since the lothians are the UFO capital of the uk, it must be some sort of ectoplasm

[Clan Ford]

There has been loads of this stuff round Crieff - it really seems to like the "new ground" on a rugby pitch on our recently built school.  When you pick it up it sort of breaks up into lots of wee strings - just like you mention Bob.  It seems to thrive just after snow and frost and then die back after a couple of mild days.  It is strange stuff :dunno

Norm