Bare lawn patches

We have some bare patches on our lawn and we have found some kind of worm thing.....I have no idea what it is and what's the best way to treat it
Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions please

 

Leather jackets, the larvae of crane flies I believe.
Starlings love them, I think the old method of getting rid of them was to soak the ground and then cover it with a mat or something similar over night.
It brings them to the surface where you can sweep them up.

 

Thank you for your time in replying I will give it a go, the lawn seems to have gone past the point of recovering and weeds are trying to get a hold. Will the lawn recover or not

 

A different cause, but our lawn was almost non-existent (badly-laid on top of builders rubble) and wiped out during last year's UK heatwave. It's never looked so good since. Lawns have cycles, in my experience.