Nasty sludge in the oil filler cap of the 2lt zetec.

More than normal white smoke on start up

Some oil dripping from the exhaust collector

Answers on a post card

Or could just be condensation? Depending on your breather setup (ie modern stuff, and even 40+ years ago) the breathers were connected to the inlet to help suck fumes out of the engine to help stop condensation and oil leaks. If just a passive setup, I would do nothing until you have taken the car for a decent run and allowed teh car to heat up for a good chunk of time. Also, do you have an oil cooler? if so, is it thermostatically controlled?

No oil cooler.

It has not had a blast since october

Is the water in the header tank dropping?
Do a compression test and/or leak down

Get it warmed through properly and a good run. Hopefully that will clear it. filler cap mayo is often just condensation, especially this weather.

Thanks chaps,

next bit of free time is blast down the road time

More of a cruise doing a circuit of the M25.....needs to be good and long to (hopefully) dry the oil out. But do keep an eye on the header tank...

plus 1 for Compression test.

You need to check the head isn't cracked around the exhaust ports, black tops are weak in this area. water in oil and white smoke are symptoms.
The head gaskets don't usually fail unless they're incorrectly installed.
From your picture I don't think that would be condensation.
Compressed air down the plug hole at tdc and look for bubbles in the coolant header tank.