ID These Grubs ?

I was digging out the last of the veg in the polytunnel yesterday and around the roots of one of the lettuce plants found a host of these grubs. The must have been at least 30 of them, but they seemed to be confined to just one plant despite there being a row quite closely planted.
Does anyone have any idea what they are?

 

Could they be leather jackets Dave?

 

Hi Dave

if you cover with black plastic (or the like) over the top of the soil leave a day or two and they will all have come to the surface.

Spruce

 

I forgot to say , I use a old sack, soak in a bucket of water 1st , when I have a patch of the lawn looking a bit yellow in the early part of the year, and usually its leather jackets , then I just pick them all up and put in a pot saucer for the robin to have, dont half stink though !!!

 

Thanks Spruce, I'll give that a try though I think I got most of them as I lifted the plant with a biggish root ball and then used a blowlamp on the soil where I lifted it from.
Sometime in the next couple of weeks I'll be taking the top couple of inches of soil off the polytunnel bed and then before I add fresh compost I'll water in some Jeyes Fluid and cover with plastic for a couple of weeks to help kill of any residual bugs.

 

are there different types of leatherjackets then? the ones i find in the garden are always 'orrible fat things

 

same one European cranefly or daddy longlegs , your#s are having a good feed if orrible fat things