Squirrels! They carry them off. They're tenacious little buggers so the only thing is to give them some bird peanuts to distract them & provide some water away from the bulbs

Hi, this is probably due to squirrels taking them to store for winter food, if you plant more, I would suggest that you cover the area with steel wire mesh, well anchored to prevent them getting through to the bulbs, Derek.

Squirrels - watch out for the tulip bulbs as well. They don't seem to like daffodils so those are safe.

Thanks a lot for replies, never thought about squirrels because have never seen any here, although that doesn't mean they're not here. Yes, last year the tulip bulbs disappeared in the same way, neat hole where bulb had been and the small shoot lying on earth. It's my son's garden, 1 acre mostly weeds and trees, old farmhouse and surrounded by conifer woods so quite probable there are squirrels there, certainly deer, which ate the cabbages. I like squirrels so will now ask next door farmer if she has seen any. Thanks again.

I once lost a lot of tulips to a fox. Pretty sure it was him as I once looked out of the bedroom window in the middle of the night and saw one sitting by the urn where some of them were. It would have had to have been a very large and hungry squirrel to eat all that disappeared in one night. But wire netting would protect you from either.

Yes, certainly goal oriented squirrels. Reckon that they took them over a week and in different locations so probably more than one. My wife and daughter in law have had a great laugh imagining them watching me planting and then running down and grabbing them when I leave. I'm guessing that they will forget where they buried a lot of them and crocuses will start sprouting elsewhere.

Spent a great deal of time and effort putting wire mesh over all the bulbs I planted at the end of last year and an equal amount of time cutting the mesh around each plant and removing it to let them grow only to discover that the 'spare' bulbs, crocus and tulips which had no mesh on them were untouched. Guess somebody has taken care of the squirrels. They may be luring me into a sense of false security so they can have a bumper party at the end of this year when i replant.