Jelly identification

[monkeybusiness]

Alright then hive-mind, can someone identify this clear jelly substance please? It has just appeared on paddock grass next to a pond, and also turned up in exactly the same place this time last year. It also has what looks like lumps of scat in it. 

[GarethM]

Not sure about the jelly maybe from the berries they've been eating?.

 

But guessing something like a deer or possibly a heron as it looks like it was from a height, foxes and such tend to confine. Anything larger deer, cows etc aren't exactly worried about keeping it discreet.

Edited January 4 by GarethM

[monkeybusiness]

3 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Not sure about the jelly maybe from the berries they've been eating?.

 

But guessing something like a deer as it looks like it was from a height, foxes and such tend to confine. Anything larger deer, cows etc aren't exactly worried about keeping it discreet.

I’m certain it’s not deer, they are very rare around here and the ground is so wet that their presence/tracks would be easy to see. 
Part of me thinks it might somehow be fungal. It’s almost exactly 12 months since it last appeared in the very same spot. 

[Doug Tait]

We see it certain times walking on the moor, never sure what it was but kind of reminds me of frogspawn

[GarethM]

Why would the fungal make the jelly stuff tho. Most fungal want to make airborne spores or something that looks atleast half edible.

 

Do the birds eat the jelly?

[monkeybusiness]

2 minutes ago, GarethM said:

Why would the fungal make the jelly stuff tho. Most fungal want to make airborne spores or something that looks atleast half edible.

 

Do the birds eat the jelly?

Nothing ate it last year, it eroded over a couple of weeks.

[monkeybusiness]

3 minutes ago, Doug Tait said:

We see it certain times walking on the moor, never sure what it was but kind of reminds me of frogspawn

It’s a very similar consistency to frog spawn, yes. 

[Haironyourchest]

That's a mold fungus. Don't know about the scat, but the jelly definitely. 

[GarethM]

Star jelly

[peds]

I've seen it around a bit, I did a good bit of googling the first time I saw it, and I came to the conclusion that it was the substance contained within female frogs that eventually turns into the jelly part of frogspawn (not the eggs) when deliberately laid. But when the frog gets eaten instead, it swells in the stomach of the heron/fox/cat/etc, and forces an ejection.

 

Could be completely wrong, but it makes sense to me.