I leave my bulbs in the ground from year to year and usually have a good selection of early cheer, white fragrant jonquils and yellow daffodils.
This year it seems to have been white jonquils only with no early cheer flowering at all and only one yellow daffodil.
I find it really hard to plant bulbs in autumn as our heavy clay Auckland soil is usually rock hard at that time of year and planting is arduous.
if you are happy to leave bulbs in the ground then can you plant them out of season when the ground is more manageable to dig?

I always thought the reason for lifting them was so that they didn't rot in the ground in the off season. If yours have been fine from year to year, it seems logical that you can plant out of season. Maybe those that haven't come up again this year have lived their natural life span. We all have one of those!

You may well be right Lorna. Mine are in grassy ish areas and I just leave them to do their thing - as they do in big parks.
I haven't had any issue up until now and thought that they multiply and just increase not decrease.
March is such a terrible time in Auckland for bulb planting - well in my garden anyway - as the ground is rock hard.

Your clumps of bulbs may be getting overcrowded, so they may need to be lifted and divided. I'd do that as the growth dies back (so you know where to dig!), give them a feed at that time as well, and they'll be good to go next winter/spring.

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