I was going to guess "slime mold". I wonder what favors them over normal fungi? The mix of raw materials sounded good.

I'll look for an active thread in the "Fungi Forum" to post a link to this thread.

Thank you so much Rick. Now, all the info I've read about the slime mold indicates that scientists have recently taken slime mold out of the fungi class and put it, hummm, well I'm not sure I can say clearly. There are more descriptions of what it is than where it fits into nature except it is friendly, harmless, and elusive!

They are strange critters!

I don't recall hearing how to discourage them.

Donald / needrain said:
>> Looks like slime mold to me. Let it do its job. Once it's done, it will disappear.

and Becky / beckygardener agreed.

There is something creepy about a fungus like thing that has locomotion.