timmmay:

Jared777:

Hey...I noticed my lawn had a similar look to it when I went to mow yesterday. Not really dying off like yours, but lots of little black patches.

The only thing I could attribute it to was birds. I saw some birds going to town on the lawn after some wet weather a few days back...assumed there were worms around.

I didn't take too close a look at it yesterday since I thought it was just birds, but it was just interesting to see someone with something so similar. Do you live in Wellington? Will take a closer look at it later to see if it's more serious.

Yep, northern suburbs. Apparently quite a lot of grass grub around. If any of the black spots look like burrows then you have grass grub.

This guy is a pest controller in Wellington, masters degree in pest control. If you can't be bothered doing it yourself, or you can't, he cost around $100 to get rid of it last time. It cost $35 for materials to do 160 square meters, but I find I can't apply it at the low rate specified and I end up using about double. So DIY is cheaper, if you do it only once.