Does anyone have an idea of what this is?

 

Dead seed stalks. This is normal and nothing to be worried about.

 

From Rye grass? Why is this happening? Up until three years ago this did not happen.

 

Normal life cycle of a plant. It will try to produce seeds if the conditions are right.

 

Don’t feel bad as this seems to be a bad year for dead seed stalks. I have then scattered across my yard as well. They will break loose soon and get mulched during a mowing.

 

Thanks everyone for the info! I read somewhere to cut the grass low to try and get rid of them and then allow grass to grown bak to my normal height of 4" cut. Hopefully this will hide them a bit!

 

I would just let it resolve itself. Cutting low will need to be done in stages and even doing this will create a lot of stress on your lawn in the summer.

The priority in the summer is proper irrigation and disease prevention or control if needed.

 

Any blue grass in the mix?
My yard goes seed crazy about every 3 years. This was 2nd year with heavy seed stalks.

 

I can confirm that your first photo is Ryegrass. But as others have said, it's not dead.

By the way, you didn't title your photo "Plant Flower Twig Terrestrial plant Groundcover", right? It's the site that is doing this...?

 

I also have these and it is so annoying to look at. Developing ocd trying to pick them all out. Think I’ll be changing my seed.