What is this???

moonpenny

Can someone tell me what on earth this is?
 On land at the back of my house that is north facing and always damp.  (The colour is much darker than pics)
it has only appeared in last few days and I had it last year too but I'm not sure if it was the same time of year.  The beads are black in colour and a bit shiny - they almost look like beads of thick oil.

Eldi_Dos

Do you know what was on the land previously?

moonpenny

This is outside my back door where I had lawn originally but removed it as it seemed to grow an inch a minute.  This never dries out fully as north facing and when it rains it collects here.

I have lived here for years and this is only the second time i have spotted it.  I do treat it occasionally with weedkiller as can't  make up my mind what to do with it.

Last year when it appeared I poked it a bit with a stick and some of it seemed a bit jellyfish.
Wish I knew what it was as it makes my skin crawl.

theoretica

If those plants are the size I think then it is a little big for slime mould, which was my first thought.  How big are the beads?

moonpenny

I would say the weed in top pic is about 3 inches wide and the "beads" range from really tiny to bigger as you can see.
What is slime mould?
I am going to sprinkle salt on some tomorrow and see what happens.

Eldi_Dos

Lawns can have lots of fungi and other growths that you never notice while the grass is growing, so now you have removed lawn they are more noticeable.

Having done a bit of reading I would guess it is Nostoc, fits in with damp conditions you describe.

Rather than going down the route of using chemicals it would be better to improve drainage, few bags of sand and some forking to improve drainage.

Make a little project of it and post photos with progress.

Woolsery

Eldi_Dos said:

Having done a bit of reading I would guess it is Nostoc, fits in with damp conditions you describe.

I get that on some semi-hard surface areas around this time of year. Apparently harmless, but unfortunately not edible like the seaweed it resembles!

twopenny

Looks like king alfreds cakes.
A type of tiny fungi though these are small.
Cut one and see if it's old enough to have rings inside.

But i have a feeling it will be grey jelly inside and I don't have a name for that at the moment

moonpenny

twopenny said:

Looks like king alfreds cakes.
A type of tiny fungi though these are small.
Cut one and see if it's old enough to have rings inside.

But i have a feeling it will be grey jelly inside and I don't have a name for that at the moment

Yes, I stuck a stick in one and it is a bit jellyish. Why did you think this?
There are some that are bigger and flatter about size of a 1p piece. 

This is just a small piece of land with a path going up the middle and same land on other side but there arn't any on that side.

To the left is next doors garden that is higher than mine so I get extra water from there when it rains.

This morning I have sprinkled salt, washing up liquid and vinegar but nothing's changed.

Keep_pedalling

It’s jelly lichen totally harmless.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/fungus-lichen/jelly-lichen-information.htm

moonpenny

Keep_pedalling said:

It’s jelly lichen totally harmless.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/fungus-lichen/jelly-lichen-information.htm

Thank you!  I think you have solved it. Tar Jelly Lichen.